Still Waters 2point7: The Queen of Light
by RedPBass
Summary: Circumstances force Chizuru to return to the home of her aunt along with Ayaka and Natsumi. But the home turns out to be a big spooky castle, one that seems to hold many secrets. Finally, all is illuminated. Final chapter is up.
1. Chapter 1

Still Waters 2.7: The Queen of Light

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There Were Voices Down The Corridor, Thought I Heard Them Say

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Author's Pre-notes: This is a story about Chizuru, Ayaka, and Natsumi, a few months after their high school graduation, and what happens when circumstances bring the three of them to the home of Chizuru's aunt, who raised her from childhood. But the Aunt just might be a lunatic, and she lives in a big creepy castle. Let's hope this one doesn't end with a bloodbath like the others, ok? I hope you enjoy reading it.

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After a rather tiring day of work at Fulcanelli's Materials, one of several magic shops in Mahora, Naba Chizuru entered her small apartment, picked up her mail, and collapsed on the couch. Ah…the lovely couch; she let out a long sigh as she settled onto the comfortable cushions and began to go through her mail. 'Bill…bill…bill…magazine subscription renewal notice…and a letter from Aunty Rosalind.' She frowned pensively at the envelope and her aunt's elegant, measured writing. It had been quite some time since she had heard from the other woman; other than an expensive pen set received upon graduating from high school, Aunty Rosalind seemed to have forgotten completely about Chizuru's very existence, not that the young beauty harbored any such illusion; the old woman had meaning in everything she did.

Chizuru sat up on the couch and settled her tired feet on the floor. A letter from Aunty Rosalind… Her frown deepened as she reached for a letter opener. The woman had raised her since early childhood, after her mother... She had never been a loving caretaker, to put it mildly.

She opened the letter and began to read.

_Dearest Chizuru,_

Chizuru smiled humorlessly at that; Auntie Rosalind always opened her letters that way and had little regard for the Japanese conventions of etiquette such as honorifics; the woman considered it 'hogwash', if Chizuru recalled correctly. She resumed reading.

_The mansion has been oh so lonely, and my heart has ached without your company. Therefore, I humbly request your presence beginning on the tenth of the venerable month of Augustus. You may ride to The Refuge on the cargo vessel, if you wish; it arrives on the tenth, twentieth, and final day of every month._

_However, I will be quite disappointed if you do not arrive on the time. Please see to it that your affairs are put in order before you arrive, as you may be detained for quite some time. _

_I look forward to your visit, as we have much to discuss, about a great many things._

_Eternally yours, _

_Your beloved aunt, Rosalind Strachan_

'Eternally yours', was it? 'You may ride on the cargo vessel', was it? 'See to it that your affairs are put in order'? 'You may be detained for quite some time'?

She crumpled the letter in an unusual show of frustration and tossed it aside. So, Aunty Rosalind wanted her to return to the mansion. She left the crumpled letter where it had fallen behind the couch and pulled a large brown suitcase from the closet. She wasted little time, and soon had the suitcase filled with the essentials and several sets of clothing. Curse the woman! How dare she demand Chizuru's return in such a manner? And naming the tenth of August as a deadline! The woman had to have known that her letter could scarcely have arrived before the eighth; Chizuru had perhaps thirty or so hours to 'set her affairs in order' and arrange travel plans to The Refuge, as Aunty Rosalind called it; the island in the south. She supposed others might have cursed; Kotarou-kun would undoubtedly have had many colorful things to say in such a situation. Chizuru settled for pursing her lips and stomping around the perimeter of the room several times, then gave it up. She simply was not good with displays of anger.

With the suitcase packed, she went into the small bathroom and stripped down for a shower. It felt nice to be out of the clothes she had been working in all day, and the hot water felt good against her skin. After a shower perhaps a bit too long to be considered proper, she turned off the water and began drying herself off. She had made it perhaps halfway through drying her hair when the doorbell rang. Now who on Earth…? She wrapped a towel around herself and deftly arranged the other towel around her hair in a sort of turban as she made her way to the door and looked through the peephole to see none other than Ayaka, and she belatedly recalled the dinner plans she had made the week before.

"Please wait a moment," she said through the door, then rushed to find something to wear.

----

Ayaka and Natsumi waited impatiently as Chizuru rushed around inside, tossing boxes by the sound of it.

After one particularly loud crash, Natsumi turned to Ayaka. "You don't think she forgot, right? I mean…this is our first get together since you got back…" Ayaka had just two weeks ago arrived back in Japan after spending almost a month in America; she had been trying to convince her parents to let her return to Mahora.

Ayaka shrugged and tried again to look through the peephole; it didn't work very well. "Chizuru-san? Is everything all right?"

The banging sounds stopped and Chizuru's voice floated back to them. "I'm fine!"

Natsumi slumped comfortably against the wall and looked around the hallway. This was a nice place, much better than she could afford on a waitress's pay. She glanced over at Ayaka and realized the other girl didn't even seem to notice the near-opulence of the building. She thought about the mere 1470 yen left in her pocket to get her through the next week and sighed at the disparity of income between Ayaka and Chizu-nee, and herself.

Seconds later, Chizuru opened the door.

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"Welcome, Ayaka, Natsumi-chan. Come in, sit down, I'll bring some tea," Chizuru said as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Thank you, Chizuru-san," Ayaka said politely as she glided over to the couch and seated herself gracefully.

"Thanks, Chizu-nee," Natsumi said as she wandered around the room, looking at things. This was the first time she had been to Chizu-nee's new apartment; it was nice. 'Must've cost a mint, though,' she thought as she picked up a delicate looking glass…thing from a shelf and looked it over. She almost dropped it when a thin piece that stuck out from the side broke off with a sharp little 'tink' sound; she quickly put it back where it had been before.

Chizuru returned with some tea, and the three of them sat down and drank it over friendly small talk, mostly between Ayaka and Chizuru. Soon enough, the small talk dwindled and died, and the three of them sat in companionable silence for a moment as everyone tried to think of something to say. While Chizuru asked Ayaka about her time in America, Natsumi got up and strolled over to the window; the night lights were pretty from here. She briefly wondered whether or not Chizu-nee closed the curtains when she changed her clothes, and quickly brushed it off. The other woman wasn't _that_ naïve. Surely not. Right? She glanced back at the woman who had been like a big sister to her for the past six or seven years, and noticed a crumpled ball of paper lying behind the couch. She wandered over and picked it up, and a brief sense of curiosity compelled her to straighten it out; Chizuru made a strangled sound and choked on her tea when she saw Natsumi start reading the letter.

"You're…leaving, Chizu-nee?" Natsumi asked sadly after a moment.

"This is the first I've heard of this," Ayaka said, giving Chizuru a level look.

"It's…my Aunty Rosalind, I mean, um…I'm sorry. She's getting older, and she wants me to visit her."

"Oh, that sounds nice! I think I will join you," Ayaka said suddenly. "Just let me check my schedule…"

"Ah, wait! No, I don't think that would be a good—"

"Nonsense," Ayaka interrupted. "It will be fun. Now when are you leaving?"

"The letter says she has to be there by the tenth," Natsumi supplied.

"I see you are already packed, so you must be leaving tomorrow, correct?"

"Yes, but—"

Ayaka flipped her cell phone open and dialed a number. "Yes. It's me. Please pack several changes of clothes and send them to this address…" she repeated Chizuru's address through the phone. "Do it as soon as possible, thank you." She ended the call and flipped her phone shut. "There, it's done. What time were you leaving tomorrow, Chizuru-san?"

"Wait, what, I don't, I can't—"

"It will be fine! Won't it, Natsumi-san?" Ayaka asked, turning to the other girl.

"Sorry, I've got work. I can't go with you," Natsumi said, raising her hands in an I-don't-want-to-go sort of way.

Ayaka put her hands on her hips and assumed a thoughtful stance. "Hmm…no problem." She again pulled out her cell phone and made a call. "Ah yes, is this Kikuchi-san? Yes. My name is Yukihiro Ayaka, and I am interested in buying your business. Yes, you may speak with my accountant. Thank you." She flipped the cell phone shut and turned to Natsumi. "I just bought Kikuchi's Diner. You're fired. Now you're free to come with us, correct?"

Natsumi's jaw dropped. "…my…my job…"

Ayaka turned to Chizuru, who sighed in defeat. "So…?"

"I…I suppose it will be ok. But you must understand, Aunty Rosalind is very…unusual. If she says something offensive..."

"…my job…" Natsumi said again, but was completely ignored.

Ayaka gave her best 'ojou-sama laugh'. "Oh, don't worry about your Aunt Rosalind." She had been dealing with that sort of thing her whole life after all; and some mean old woman who felt the need to hide herself from society on an island somewhere wouldn't be able to hold a candle to Yukihiro Ayaka, who, at the tender age of ten, had reduced an experienced fifty year old woman to tears with her mastery of the unspoken word.

"Well, we need to leave early tomorrow, and…Natsumi-chan, are you all right?" Chizuru asked.

"…m-my job…"

"Oh dear…"

----

The trio met up outside Natsumi's ex-place of business and took a taxi to the airport, where they took one of Ayaka's private jets down to Tsuken-jima, and then made their way from the small airstrip to a small dock on the southeast side of the island just in time to catch the supply boat out to The Refuge, as Chizuru's aunt had named it in her letter. The man running the boat was nice enough, and offered the three girls his cabin during the hours-long trip, a bit of hospitality poor Natsumi desperately needed; the girl became seasick almost as soon as they left the dock.

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The boat finally tied up at the dock on The Refuge, a rocky island created by volcanic action in far ancient times. The island was roughly six miles long, rising from a low point on the south end to jagged, badly undercut cliffs two hundred feet high on the north. It was perhaps two miles wide at its widest point, and evidence of its origin could be found in the numerous geysers and the occasional gas vent. Vegetation was present, but only the hardiest plants could survive in the unfriendly soil of The Refuge, and most of it grew on the north end of the island, including a small scraggly forest of trees of the various types found all over Okinawa. And, on the highest part of the northern cliffs, was perched The Strachan House, a complex, almost schizophrenic stone and plaster structure with large columns, buttresses, spires and towers, battlements and parapets. The overall effect, combined with the rest of the island, was something akin to the blighted dwelling of some demonic gentleman straight out of a nightmare, and Natsumi found herself shivering before she even set foot on the dock.

"It looks like a castle," she said after climbing off the boat.

Ayaka had to agree. It definitely looked like a castle, if perhaps one designed by a madman. "Has your aunt lived here long, Chizuru-san?"

Chizuru nodded. "Oh yes, thirty years or more. She inherited the house and island from her grandfather; his ancestors started building it in 1602, after discovering the island. They…were mages," she added conspiratorially as the other two nodded. All three of them were familiar with such things; they had been since way back in middle school, when Negi-kun was their teacher.

"They weren't, er…evil mages, were they?" Natsumi asked, eyeing the nightmarish building.

Chizuru shook her head. "We must hurry, it wouldn't do to keep Aunty Rosalind waiting."

"No, it would not," Ayaka agreed as a stone-faced man led them to a car.

The drive up to the mansion was short and uneventful, all conversation stifled by the oppressive feel of the car and the general look of the island. When they arrived at their destination and climbed out of the car, Natsumi couldn't help but gawk at everything like a country bumpkin on her first trip to the big city. She followed as Chizuru led the two of them up to the porch, where another expressionless servant opened the wide double doors to reveal an older woman, perhaps forty years of age, in an elegant looking but somehow simple dress.

"I have returned, Aunty Rosalind," Chizuru said politely. "Please allow me to introduce my friends; Murakami Natsumi of Mahora, and Yukihiro Ayaka of the Yukihiro Group. Natsumi-san, Ayaka-san, this is Rosalind Strachan, my beloved aunt."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Strachan," Ayaka said formally.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Strachan," Natsumi repeated awkwardly; she turned red when she realized she had mispronounced the woman's name.

"The pleasure is all mine," the woman replied, ignoring Natsumi's mistake. "Please, do come inside. I am sure we have much to talk about," she said, directing the last part at Chizuru.

"Of course. Come along, Natsumi-san, Ayaka-san. I will show you the way," Chizuru said as everyone went inside.

Soon, they were all seated in a room with all sorts of fanciful decoration and light colors that nevertheless somehow managed to be gloomy. Perhaps it was the elaborately carved window frames and their thick glass that let in little light, or it might have been the lit candelabras and the resulting smoke, but Natsumi quickly found herself ill at ease. The building was oppressive from the inside, too. She turned her attention back to Ayaka and Mrs. Strachan, whose name she had given up trying to pronounce. She glanced at Chizuru and found the other woman seemed inexplicably torn between horror and admiration while she watched Ayaka and Mrs. Sutu…Stururei…Chizuru's aunt interact. Natsumi watched on as the two talked about inconsequential things without actually saying much of anything for almost twenty five minutes before a servant or a messenger or someone like that arrived with a clipboard, which Chizuru's aunt scanned over. Natsumi caught a glimpse of the sheet; it was probably a delivery invoice from the boat.

"Why do I not see the crate of leeks I ordered listed here?" Rosalind suddenly demanded. "They should have arrived at that abominable little island yesterday. Why are they not on this invoice?"

"I do not know, my lady," the servant said blandly.

"Well, you must convey the importance of this cargo to the captain. Tell him I demand the crate be delivered as soon as it arrives, even if it arrives tomorrow. Go!"

"Yes, my lady." When the servant left, another one, expressionless like all the others, stepped into the room and waited beside the door.

"I am sure you two must want to see your rooms; you may be here for some time after all," Mrs. Strachan said distractedly to Natsumi and Ayaka. She motioned to the servant, who promptly led them away, out into the hallway. When she was sure they were gone, she turned and faced Chizuru and just _looked _at her for a moment. "Chiiiizuruuu~"

Chizuru put on an outer look of perfect calm and tranquility as she sipped some tea from her teacup, deliberately taking her time in order to avoid the coming showdown.

Rosalind waited until Chizuru was finished before she spoke again. "Well I suppose you are happy with yourself."

Chizuru didn't respond, but instead opted to place her teacup on the table very carefully.

"Bringing strangers into my home, have you taken leave of your senses? What if one of them were to find her way into the cellar? What then?"

Chizuru remained seated and folded her hands in her lap. She hoped Aunty Rosalind wouldn't notice them shaking. "They insisted, I—"

"No matter. They are here now, and will remain until the twentieth, when the boat returns." The woman glided over to the window and pretended to look outside; there was no way she could see through that thick, dark glass however. "The Yukihiro girl…she is a half breed like you, correct?"

Chizuru looked away, but nodded.

"Look at me when I speak to you. What do you think you are, a servant?" Rosalind didn't wait for a reply, nor did she even look back at Chizuru to see what effect her scolding might have had. "The Yukihiro girl is quite bright; I haven't had such a worthy opponent since your mother. In any case, I look forward to future conversations; she may need to remain in the refuge for quite some time."

"Aunty Rosalind, she can't—"

"The other one, however…what gutter did you dredge her from? Did you _see_ the way she eyed my good china? I have seen that sort of look before; I suppose I must have the servants count the silverware before she leaves on the twentieth, if I do not toss her into the sea myself before then."

Chizuru spilled the tea she was pouring. "Aunty Rosalind! How can you say that?! Natsumi-chan is—"

"'Natsumi-chan', that misbegotten gutter dog, is a foul taint in my house. A foul taint, I might add, that _you_ brought upon us, Chizuru dear. Now clean that spill; if it stains the tablecloth I will put you in the cellar again," the woman added as if saying such things had no effect on her. When it looked as though Chizuru would argue, she arched one carefully shaped eyebrow. "Do I need to remind you of the results of your last failure? Come now, we must speak of the Springfield brat. Tell me, how have things progressed thus far?"

Chizuru's face tightened at the word 'brat', and she reluctantly began her report.

----

"Ayaka…how do you think she's related to Chizu-nee?" Natsumi asked as the servant led them through twisting hallways. Natsumi had tried to keep an eye on where they were going, but was soon completely lost.

"Mrs. Strachan? She is an aunt, I know that much at least. I don't know if she is a paternal or maternal aunt…why?"

"Just curious. I didn't know Chizu-nee had European relatives. I always thought she was Japanese like me."

Ayaka looked back at the other girl for a moment. So, Natsumi was feeling left out, was she? She and Chizuru would have to remedy this soon. Natsumi was an old friend, and it simply wouldn't do to have the girl feel too out of place. "She _is_ Japanese, as far as it matters one way or the other."

"Yeah, you're right," Natsumi said as she clasped her hands loosely behind her back and looked around. This place truly was enormous, and she wasn't sure she could find the exit again by herself if something happened. The hallways were long and oddly shaped, sometimes turning abruptly here, curving gently there, and crisscrossing all over the place.

The servant abruptly stopped before a door and Natsumi almost bumped into Ayaka before she could stop herself.

"This is the lady Ayaka's room," the servant stated. He pulled out a large, heavy keyring containing at least a dozen keys, then selected one and unlocked the door, revealing a dark and somewhat musty smelling room. "The Lady Rosalind wishes to apologize for the lack of proper lodging, she was unaware of your impending presence on the island."

"I understand, it's no problem," Ayaka said smoothly as she followed the servant into the room. Natsumi stood in the doorway, surveying the room while the servant moved here and there, deftly performing various small tasks such as opening the curtains and lighting several lamps placed here and there around the room, which was quite large by Japanese standards.

When he was through, the servant spoke again. "The Lady Rosalind wishes to have your company for supper; please dress appropriately. We will summon you when it is time."

"Of course, I understand," Ayaka replied as she popped open her suitcase. One of the servants had brought it into the room soon after they arrived; though why that same servant hadn't done the small tasks one must do to prepare a room for visitors...

The servant exited the room and stood in the hallway with a stony expression, apparently waiting for Natsumi to stop gawking.

"Er…sorry. I'll see you at dinner time, Ayaka. Well…let's go, Mr…what's your name?" she asked the servant. He didn't reply, just looked at her with his unchanging expression as she came out into the hallway. He closed the door to Ayaka's room and led her away.

"Hey, wait a minute, where are we going? Why can't I stay near Ayaka?"

"The Lady Rosalind wishes for you to be housed in the east wing of the manor," the servant replied.

Natsumi glanced back down the twisting hallway; Ayaka's room was already lost from sight. "The east wing of the manor? How big is this place?" she asked aloud.

"The Strachan House contains over one mile of passages, and many dozens of rooms."

"Oh…" Natsumi said, not knowing what else to say. She hadn't really expected an answer.

It seemed they had walked for a hour or more before the servant finally stopped before a door and against produced that heavy keyring. "This is the lady Natsumi's room," he stated, then unlocked the door.

Natsumi looked in and couldn't help but frown. This room was quite a bit smaller than Ayaka's room, and only had one window and a much smaller bed, though this one was a canopy bed, which she had never seen outside of books and TV. She followed the servant inside.

"The Lady Rosalind wishes to apologize for the lack of proper lodging, she was unaware of your impending presence on the island."

Natsumi nodded absently as she watched the servant open curtains and light the single lamp in the room. "No electricity?"

"The Lady Rosalind has no need for such things," the servant replied as he replaced the glass cover on the lamp. He strode over to the closet and opened it, revealing many dresses along with a great big spider which he promptly disposed of. "The Lady Rosalind wishes to have your company for supper; please dress appropriately. We will summon you when it is time."

"Ok…" Natsumi said, looking into the dark closet with trepidation. That spider had been huge…

The servant went out into the hallway and closed the door behind him, and Natsumi finally found herself alone in the room. She heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed, slumping her shoulders. This place made her uncomfortable in more ways than one. She flopped down on the bed and couldn't help but grin. The canopy above the bed was like something out of Cinderella! After a moment, she got up and went to the closet again. Some of these dresses were really nice; she would have to choose carefully.

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Supper was a rather low key affair, even with all the fancy clothing. Natsumi found herself seated opposite Chizuru at a fairly long, rectangular wooden table, with Lady Rosalind at one end and Ayaka at the other. Meaningless small talk continued for a time as everyone settled in, but eventually drifted to a standstill, overcome by the clink of silverware on plates. Natsumi, while aware of how to use a knife and fork, wasn't particularly familiar with them, and it showed in her clumsy attempts to cut her steak into more manageable pieces.

"My, what _do_ they teach in that academy of yours, Chizuru dear?" Rosalind said suddenly, making a show of her deft movements with knife and fork.

"What do you mean, Aunty Rosalind?"

"Why, one might think it was a place for the common rabble, rather than a fine institution of learning," Rosalind continued. Ayaka looked up at the woman consideringly, then glanced at Chizuru, who looked away quickly. She glanced at Natsumi and found her concentrating on her plate, oblivious to what was being said; or, rather, what was _not_ being said.

"Mahora is home to many fine schools," Chizuru said, hands shaking. Her fork clinked loudly against her plate and she carefully placed her knife and fork down and lowered her hands below the table top.

Rosalind made a small motion with her hand. _Not if I am to judge by what I see here,_ the gesture said. Her eyes darted toward Natsumi, then away.

Ayaka sat up straighter, if a bit stiff, and glanced at Chizuru, who shot her a pleading look. _Please, do something!_

"Tell me, Lady Rosalind, do you have a garden?" _ALL Ladies must have a garden._

The woman stiffened, but nodded. She carefully chewed a bite of food for a moment before answering. _Silly girl, you are not worth my attention after all._ "Why yes, it is very well designed, might I add." _As if you would know 'well designed' if you saw it._

"I'm sure." _Lies. _"This house is quite…interesting. What style was it?" _In Bad Taste, I believe._

"Oh, my grandfather called it 'Modern Neo Gothic', I believe. Few have the privilege to live in a structure so grand." _Low class girl, you don't know fine architecture from a mud hut!_

"Modern Neo Gothic? I don't believe I have ever heard of such a thing. In any case, it is nice, for a summer home. Not quite so large as father's house in Sweden, I believe, but quite cozy." _Low class? You old beggar, THIS place is a mud hut!_

Rosalind straightened in her chair and raised an eyebrow. _Your parentage must be questionable to produce such a difficult child._

Ayaka sniffed delicately and took a sip of tea. _Questionable? And what might your parentage be, mixed Canadian and Australian?_

Rosalind carefully placed her fork and knife on her plate, and lowered her hands below the table top to hide the way they shook in rage. She let her eyes roam around the room and smiled ever so slightly. _Scottish and German, you enfant terrible. And this is my house, my kingdom. You are my subject here, half breed rice girl._

Ayaka nearly rose out of her seat until Natsumi suddenly knocked over her tea cup, splashing herself and the tablecloth with the hot liquid. "Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Oh this pretty dress, it'll be ruined…!"

Rosalind just stared at the girl in open mouthed surprise mirrored by Ayaka and Chizuru for a few seconds until the shock wore off and she quickly rose. "Servants! Come quickly, this must be cleaned before it stains!" Two servants rushed into the room and led Natsumi away while others quickly emptied the table and removed the wet tablecloth for cleaning. Rosalind sniffed and looked at Chizuru, totally ignoring Ayaka. "I am afraid supper must be canceled. I hope you ate well." _This is not over, half breed rice girl._

Ayaka smiled pleasantly. _I agree, mongrel spawn of a bull and a bitch._

Rosalind was left sputtering as Ayaka quickly gathered a gawking Chizuru and left the room.

----

"Ayaka, you mustn't do that!" Chizuru said when they were outside. "Aunty Rosalind is—"

"She is an irritating old hag, and I don't see how you can stand to be around her," Ayaka growled. "You saw all that about Natsumi, right? How could you miss it? The nerve of the woman!"

Chizuru looked down as she walked. "That's just her way…"

"Her way is wrong," Ayaka said bluntly. "Natsumi-san is our friend, and I won't allow—"

"Is dinner over already?" Natsumi asked as she walked toward them in the hallway. She had quickly changed back into a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt after the tea spilling incident.

"I'm afraid so," Chizuru said reluctantly.

"That's too bad. Oh well…I'm sorry about your dress, Chizu-nee."

Chizuru blinked a few times. Her dress? "Oh! I thought it looked familiar. Aunty Rosalind must have sent some of my old dresses for you to wear to supper. Don't worry, it's fine." 'I don't have the heart to tell her I wore that dress when I was ten…' The poor girl would never fill out the chest of any dress Chizuru had worn in her teens. In fact, the servants had to have taken in the chest of the dress Natsumi had spilled tea on just to make sure it fit correctly. She abruptly stopped walking and hugged Natsumi. "You're a good girl, Natsumi-chan. Hang in there."

Natsumi was left spluttering while Ayaka muffled a laugh into her hand.

----

Later, after dropping off Ayaka at her room, Chizuru and Natsumi walked side by side toward Natsumi's room. Chizuru glanced at Natsumi, who was humming a song as she walked.

"I'm sorry about Aunty Rosalind," she said. "I don't know why she behaved that way—"

"Don't worry about it. I kind of expected it," Natsumi said.

"You expected…?"

Natsumi shrugged uncomfortably. "Well…I realized she didn't like me at lunchtime."

"But how did you know? No one said anything…"

"No one said anything? Like the way Ayaka didn't 'say anything' at dinner time? Come on Chizu-nee, I lived around you two for six years. You mean to tell me you didn't think I would pick up anything like that?"

Chizuru stopped walking and just looked at Natsumi while she went on ahead a few steps and turned around.

"Chizu-nee?"

"I'm sorry, Natsumi-san. I…I think I underestimated you…"

Natsumi grinned awkwardly and shrugged her shoulders. "Don't worry about it, Chizu-nee."

When they arrived at Natsumi's room, Chizuru told her the same thing she had told Ayaka earlier.

"Now, when you get ready for bed, you must make sure the door is locked. Also, you _must not_ go out into the halls at night." Natsumi gave her a look, so she expanded on that last one. "It can be dangerous at night. Please promise me you won't go out," Chizuru demanded.

"Ok, I promise, Chizu-nee," Natsumi said, rolling her eyes at the other girl's paranoia. "Don't worry. Besides, we did all that traveling today and I'm exhausted; I'll probably sleep like a log."

Chizuru nodded, convinced that Natsumi would follow her advice. "Ok then. Good night, Natsumi-san."

"Good night, Chizu-nee. See you tomorrow," Natsumi said as Chizuru exited the room and stood in the hallway. Chizuru pulled the door shut and Natsumi plopped down on the bed and heaved a sigh of relief. Honestly, these rich-girl types were too wrapped up in worrying about offending and being offended. 'Chizu-nee needs to relax a little,' Natsumi thought as she flopped back on the bed, arms flung out. She simply lay there for a while, looking at the canopy above the bed and thinking about the weird places life may take you.

"And to think; two days ago I had a job and lived in a small apartment in Mahora," she said aloud. Now, here she was on a southern island in a big spooky castle. She realized she was drifting off, so she crawled out of bed and went to the door. The huge, old fashioned lock gave her trouble for a moment but she soon figured it out, and even worked out that putting something between two of the parts prevented the lock from being opened at all, if she were careful where she put it. She took out her apartment key and wedged it in there tightly, then returned to the bed and crawled under the covers. She really _was_ exhausted. 'I'll probably sleep halfway through the day if no one comes to wake me up,' Natsumi thought as she started to drift off. "I'll deal with that when the time comes," she said aloud, mumbling the words. She was soon asleep.

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Author's Notes: So, here's another one. This one should be three chapters, and I hope to have it done before Halloween. The middle chapter sure has the right atmosphere for a Halloween story, in any case. But what about Chizuru's aunt Rosalind, huh? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story.


	2. Chapter 2

Still Waters 2.7: The Queen of Light

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Eyes That Shine Burning Red, Dreams Of You All Through My Head

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The second day of Ayaka, Natsumi, and Chizuru's 'vacation' began, simply enough, with Chizuru and Ayaka knocking on Natsumi's door.

Natsumi, bleary eyed and tired, rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the door, pulled her apartment key from where she had wedged it into the lock the evening before, and opened the door to reveal Chizuru and Ayaka, both of whom appeared quite concerned.

"Natsumi-san, did anything happen last night?" Chizuru asked quickly.

Natsumi rubbed her eyes and trudged back over to the bed, which she flopped down on. "I kept waking up during the night…I sort of remember something like some kind of big animal snuffling around outside the door, but it might have been a dream, or…." She trailed off as she saw the angry look on Chizuru's face. 'Ok that's kind of scary,' she thought. She suddenly had an urge to run and hide in the closet with the spiders.

"Natsumi-san, perhaps you should stay with me tonight?" Ayaka said.

Natsumi looked from Ayaka to Chizuru and back, and sighed. "That might be a good idea, but where would I sleep? There's only one bed over there, right?"

"True."

"…"

A servant suddenly stepped through the open doorway and stood in the room. "The Lady Rosalind wishes for her guests to attend breakfast in the second dining room this morning."

Chizuru thanked the man and sent him on his way, then excused herself. "I have a few things I need to take care of before breakfast." Without waiting for a reply, she turned and stalked out through the open door, leaving an awkward silence in her wake.

Ayaka watched her go, then put her hands on her hips and turned to Natsumi. She gave the other girl a quick once-over and then strode purposefully to the closet.

"Er…Ayaka? What are you doing?" Natsumi asked. The other girl was rooting through the closet, and, inexplicably, it made Natsumi a bit nervous, almost as much as Chizuru's angry face.

Ayaka poked her head out of the closet, gave Natsumi another measuring look, then ducked back inside. She emerged a moment later struggling with at least a dozen dresses folded over her arm. "We need to make you look elegant," Ayaka explained as she tugged the other girl into position and held up a dress to see how it might look on her.

"Ayaka, we need to go…" Natsumi said. Really, she didn't want to push that Rosalind woman any further than necessary, and making her wait for them to come to breakfast was pretty rude.

"Nonsense, we have plenty of time," Ayaka said dismissively. With growing dread, Natsumi eyed the growing pile of dresses the other woman had discarded. She had seen Ayaka be indecisive with her clothing before, and it never came to a swift end.

"How about the dress I wore yesterday?" she suggested. "The servants cleaned it and brought it back last night." Ayaka gave her a sharp look, and Natsumi quit talking. Best to let Ayaka do what she wanted in this case. Definitely.

Natsumi somehow held back a sigh as she settled down in a comfortable position to wait for pigs to fly, cows to come home, and Ayaka to pick out a dress.

----

The second dining room was quite a bit smaller than the other dining room, in which everyone had eaten supper the night before. It wasn't quite as fancy, and actually felt almost…homey, in Natsumi's opinion. Other than the expensive looking tapestries hanging on the wall, which itself was covered in elaborately carved wooden panels depicting all sorts of scenes from hunting to ancient battles and kings and queens. And the antique rifle and crossed swords above the fireplace, which was odd in and of itself; she had never seen a dining room with its own fireplace before. All in all, it was just the sort of room one might expect to find in some stereotypical European castle. She kept glancing around for a big shaggy dog, but it never materialized and she sighed in relief. She didn't like dogs much, even if they did tend to follow her around anywhere. She thought briefly of Kotarou, and quickly pushed the grinning boy out of her mind. She would never admit she missed him. No. Most definitely not. Well…maybe a little. Ok, a lot. But still…

"I am afraid Miss Rosalind is indisposed and won't be attending breakfast with us," someone said, and Natsumi's head snapped up to look at the speaker. Other than Chizuru's aunt, the only other person she had heard speak in anything but a lifeless tone since setting out on the boat were the members of the boat's crew; the servants all spoke in a monotone. The speaker was a tall Caucasian man, perhaps a little over six feet tall, with wavy reddish hair that went about halfway down his neck. He was clean shaven and immaculately if simply dressed, and his amused blue eyes ensnared her at once.

"May I introduce Sir Alexander, a friend of the family who is visiting Aunty Rosalind."

Natsumi shook her head to clear it of those blue eyes and realized Chizuru was speaking. She half listened as the other woman explained what had brought Sir Alexander to the island, and then introduced Natsumi and Ayaka. When it was her turn, she found herself sketching a long practiced curtsy to him, which he returned with equal familiarity. 'So, all that time spent acting actually _did_ come in handy,' she thought when she caught Ayaka's startled look.

"You are quite fetching in that dress," Sir Alexander said, his eyes locked on Natsumi's again.

Natsumi's eyes widened after a moment when she realized what he had said and she quickly looked down at the garment she wore. Ayaka had eventually settled for a simple, pretty dress that reached almost to the floor. It was a very pleasant shade of blue that Ayaka claimed went well with her skin, and it even fit her perfectly too, albeit after a few adjustments here and there. Especially there.

"Thank you…" Natsumi said slowly. He had such pretty eyes…

At that moment several servants arrived with plates of food and fine china and a tea pot, and Chizuru and Ayaka quickly struck up a conversation with Sir Alexander. 'Sir Alexander…' Natsumi thought dreamily. 'What a beautiful name…' She realized she was staring and he was smiling at her, so she abruptly sat up straight and shook her head to clear it, then reached for a fork as she listened to the conversation.

"So how long will you be here, Sir Alexander?" Ayaka asked, smiling at him. Natsumi felt a sharp pang of jealousy, but forced it back. She wouldn't hold it against the other girl; Ayaka probably deserved a guy like him more than she did herself.

"Oh…most likely for the foreseeable future, I'm afraid. You see, I'm trying to find a particular artifact—a rod, you see, about so long, and covered in intricate carvings; it is quite valuable, you understand—and I believe the last clue as to its location is hidden in this house," he said, looking at Natsumi again; she quickly turned away to focus on her tea cup.

"Don't call it a house when Aunty Rosalind is around," Chizuru said, smiling at him. Natsumi felt her hopes sink even lower at that. If Chizu-nee and Ayaka were both after him, she didn't have any chance at all. She ate a forkful of…something, she couldn't tell what, and tried her best to remain upright and elegant. She had rarely felt a need to do so before meeting Sir Alexander—a knight!—and couldn't help herself. After a moment, she realized he was looking at her again and smiling, actually _smiling!_ At _her!_ At Murakami Natsumi! The shy, homely girl with freckles splashed across her face, stringy, ugly hair, and plain features?! She felt her heart flutter even more wildly and forced herself to look away. His eyes were so pretty…

"I am afraid I must excuse myself, I still have much work to do," he explained as he stood up from the table some time later. Natsumi looked down at her plate and realized with a start that it was empty. She saw Ayaka start to speak, looked frantically at Sir Alexander, and then the other girl was offering her assistance in his work and Natsumi felt her heart stop.

"No, the work I must do is not fit for a lady such as yourself," he said pleasantly enough. Not pleasantly enough to stop Ayaka's hopes from being dashed, Natsumi thought, but still nice. "You wouldn't like it. Dust and spiderwebs and mold, among other things. You understand," he said as he crossed the floor to one of the doors, where he stopped and looked back. Natsumi's heart fluttered again when he smiled at her. "It was a pleasure to meet you," he said, then opened the door and exited, leaving the three stunned women seated at the table.

"Well…" Ayaka said breathlessly.

"Yes…" Chizuru answered, a tinge of pink in her face. "I certainly don't remember him being so…so…"

"So…" Ayaka began.

Natsumi just looked down and didn't say anything; she could feel her face blazing red.

"W-well," Ayaka suddenly said. "There is something I need to speak about with both of you. Chizuru-san, is there a private place…?" Ayaka asked, turning to the dark haired woman.

"Yes…we could go out to the garden, I suppose. But why?"

Ayaka glanced around. "I'll tell you when we we're there."

Chizuru gave her a curious look, but nevertheless led the way through the mansion to the garden outside.

----

"Wow. It looks…dead," Natsumi said, raising one eyebrow. Indeed, the garden was a mess; it was obvious someone had tried fairly hard to keep the plants alive and the landscaping was nice, but…

Ayaka snorted. "She calls _this_ a garden?"

Natsumi noticed that Chizuru was wringing her hands by this point. "The soil here is very acidic, it's hard to grow plants here," she explained, looking embarrassed.

"There aren't any birds here, are there?" Natsumi suddenly asked. She hadn't really noticed until this point, but, thinking back to their arrival, she hadn't seen a single bird, not even in that scraggly forest just south of the mansion.

"It's because of the volcanic gases, I think," Chizuru explained. "There aren't any mice or rats either. For some reason, they just can't survive here."

"Oh." Natsumi walked randomly around the garden, which was vaguely circular, with carefully placed benches, small trees, and flowerbeds. The plants were all struggling pitifully, of course, and she saw that Ayaka could hardly contain her smirking disdain for Lady Rosalind's concept of a garden.

"So…What did you want to talk about, Ayaka?" Chizuru asked as she seated herself elegantly in the shade of a dying tree and made a small smile. Natsumi thought the image it made somehow fit Chizuru perfectly.

Ayaka straightened up, grabbed Natsumi's wrist, and dragged her over to Chizuru's bench. Chizuru scooted over, and Ayaka pushed Natsumi down on the bench beside Chizuru, then seated herself on the other side. The bench was quite small, so they had to squish together a bit if Ayaka and Natsumi didn't want Chizuru to get pushed off the other end.

"…someone tried to get into my room last night," Ayaka said quietly. Natsumi looked at her worriedly, then looked over at Chizuru when she felt the other girl stiffen. The look on Chizuru's face was…intense, to say the least. Hard as a stone, and quite frightening. Natsumi found herself leaning away from her and forced herself to stop; Chizu-nee was pretty much her best friend after all, there was no reason to be afraid of her.

"The…intruder didn't get in, did they?" Chizuru asked in a carefully measured voice. She had her hands clenched together in her lap now, and Natsumi saw her knuckles whitening from the force she was using.

Ayaka shook her head. "No, I looked the door before I went to sleep, and propped a chair under the doorknob."

"Wait, tell it from the beginning," Natsumi said. She liked this sort of thing, detective actions and suspicious people trying to break in in the night…it was all very interesting.

Ayaka gave her an odd look, but told it from the beginning anyway…

----

_Late Evening Of The Day Before…_

----

Ayaka shooed Chizuru and Natsumi out of her room as she grinned at them, and shut the door behind them. She turned and took a good, long look around the room. "Honestly…" The room had obviously not been aired out in quite some time, and stank of dust and that heavy smell a room gets after being shut up for a while. She crossed the room to the window, but it was just another of those intricately carved things that couldn't be opened, just like every other window she had seen in this place thus far. She briefly considered breaking a few pieces of glass out, but rejected the idea as foolish and decided to explore the room. She hadn't had a chance to do so before supper, and was fairly itching to see what she might find.

The carpet on the floor concealed…the floor. As did the bed, a big four-poster made of some dark, heavy wood. The tapestries on the wall concealed nothing but wall, and pulling on the candle holders spaced here and there along the wall produced nothing but a broken candle holder, which she promptly placed carefully on the floor, as if it had simply broken off by itself.

Ayaka moved into the center of the room, put her hands on her hips in her best thinking pose, and frowned. 'There has to be a secret passage or…or _something_,' she thought to herself as she let her eyes sweep the room again. Honestly, what sort of creepy castle was this…? Her thoughtful sweep of the room came to a stop as she eyed the closet.

"Maybe…" She crossed the room to the closet and opened the big double doors. The closet itself was unusual in that it was an actual closet, such as what might be found in any modern home, rather than a wardrobe or something similar, as one might expect to find in a castle. In any case it was full of old clothes; she had yet to unpack her own things, but she wasn't so sure she wanted to store them in _here_, not with all that dust. Oh, and the spiderwebs. She carefully pushed the clothing aside and looked around. In the failing light, she could barely make out a large rectangular shape in the wall, perhaps four feet tall by two feet wide. Now _that_ was suspicious. She felt around the edges and discovered it was sunken in slightly from the surrounding wall, but she couldn't find a lever or button or any of the usual things one saw in movies which were used to open secret doors. She stepped out of the closet, frowning, and realized she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She listened as they came closer and closer and then stopped for a short time in front of her door, then continued on.

"What on Earth…" Ayaka realized belatedly that she hadn't locked the door yet, so she promptly did so, and then wedged a nearby chair under the knob just to be sure. With nothing else to do and no one to talk to, she changed into her nightclothes and lay down in the bed, thinking about that hidden door in the closet. Was there a way to open it from this side? But…what if someone came through it in the middle of the night…?

She got out of bed and walked over to the closet doors. How to secure them…? Any of the furniture would work, being made of heavy oak or walnut or something similar, but by the same token it was all far too heavy for her to move alone. She looked around the room for something to use, but found nothing until she came to the windows, and the curtain rods. She pulled up the other chair, the one she had not propped under the handle of the door, and climbed up on it; she could just reach the curtain rod on the window furthest from her bed. She took it down, surprised and elated at how heavy and solid it felt, and pushed the heavy curtain all the way to one side. She approached the closet door and tested to see if the bulbous tip of the rod would fit through the loop of the handle; it would. She pushed it all the way through until the bunched curtains wouldn't let it go any further, then tried to pull the doors open. They gave perhaps half an inch, and she pronounced it safe. Set up like that, someone would have to use an axe to get through the heavy closet doors.

Finally feeling safe, Ayaka went to the bed and made herself comfortable, confident that no one could enter the room without making a racket that would wake the dead. Within a few moments, she was asleep.

---

Some indeterminate amount of time later, Ayaka found herself awake. She lay there in bed for a moment, confused, when the sound of someone rattling keys was heard from just outside her door. She listened and waited, ready to pounce, as whoever it was put the key in the lock and unlocked her door, then gave it a push; the door didn't open, the chair had done its job. She listened as the person outside walked away, and didn't relax until their footsteps disappeared entirely. A short time later, the closet door rattled, startling her out of a light doze, but it didn't happen again, and she soon fell asleep again in spite of herself.

----

_Present Time_

----

"So that's what happened," Ayaka said. She glanced over Natsumi at Chizuru, and saw the other girl was very tense.

"I…I must go and have a talk with someone," Chizuru said quietly as she stood and smoothed her long skirt.

"Chizu-nee?" Natsumi asked.

"I will return later," Chizuru said distractedly, then walked away as if in a hurry.

"Maybe we should go after her," Natsumi said, but Ayaka shook her head.

"She'll be fine." Ayaka stood up and gave the garden a more in depth look than she had the first time. It really _was _a mess. The poor plants… She glanced back at Natsumi and saw her closely inspecting a sagging flower. "It's a shame," Ayaka said.

Natsumi nodded. "Yeah," she said as she straightened up and looked around. "I like the way the garden's set up, it'd be really pretty if the plants were healthy…"

Ayaka nodded as she strolled along, looking at the dying plants. Rosebushes and lilies and the occasional iris, climbing vines and small trees…Ayaka grudgingly admitted that it really would have been quite beautiful had they all been healthy. Say what she might about Rosalind Strachan, the woman had a good eye for flower garden design, if not the ability to keep one going. She knelt down and pulled out a scraggly looking weed that was trying to take root.

"Hmm…I wonder…" Natsumi said a moment later. Ayaka turned to see what the other girl was doing and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" Ayaka asked. Natsumi was holding the practice wand Negi had given her years ago, and looking at a dying bush thoughtfully.

"I was thinking about testing something," Natsumi answered after a moment. "I wonder if that reinvigoration spell Negi taught us works on things other than people?"

"Like plants?" Ayaka asked. She was sort of curious herself, honestly. She might have tried herself, only she was terrible at magic and didn't want to waste anyone else's time. In fact, she was so bad at magic, she could hardly even pull off more than ten magic arrows! It was ridiculous, but there it was. What she _was_ good at, however, was fighting and using her small command of magic and ki to enhance her strength. Not that any of that was of any particular use right now, in any case.

"Yeah," Natsumi said. "Oh wind, carry the fragrance of flowers to my friends, and restore their vitality…" She closed her eyes as the magic started and a small breeze blew up. Even Ayaka could feel the mighty surge of magic that threatened to come out; but somehow…it didn't. It was the same every time Natsumi used magic, and it could get quite nervewracking at times.

Ayaka shivered as the refreshing breeze flowed through the garden. She hated that; the shivering. It was irritating that it was something one simply couldn't avoid, no matter how much self control one might have.

"Did it work?" Natsumi asked; she still had her eyes shut, and a small smile on her face.

"Natsumi-san?" Ayaka asked, shaking Natsumi's shoulder. The other girl often became like this when she used magic; it was really quite irritating. What if she should happen to space out in the middle of a dangerous situation? Not to mention the ease with which she could cast spells; Ayaka hated to admit it, but she was most definitely jealous of Natsumi's abilities in the respect.

"Ah-what? Did it work?" Natsumi asked again as she snapped out of her trance-like state and looked around. "Oh…"

While the plants hadn't doubled in size or anything so extravagant, they did stand noticeably straighter, and their color seemed to have improved quite a bit.

Both girls jumped and Natsumi almost dropped her wand when someone suddenly started clapping.

"Oh well done, nice trick. Tell me…how did you do that?" Sir Alexander asked as he approached the two. Natsumi hurriedly hid the hand holding the wand behind her back and turned red.

"Eheh…it's just something I picked up somewhere," Natsumi tried to explain, waving her free hand back and forth as she spoke, then stopped abruptly when Sir Alexander smiled at her.

Ayaka felt a pang of jealousy, but shrugged it off. Sir Alexander may be a beautiful, beautiful specimen of a man, but she wasn't about to let a pair of pretty eyes split apart her friendship with Natsumi. Pretty eyes, and nice hair. And a rugged and manly chin, that somehow wasn't too strong. And the way his shirt stretched over his shoulders coupled with the way the seat of his pants molded around—

Ayaka shook her head to clear it. This was ridiculous. Yes.

Natsumi was still talking to him, so Ayaka sat down on a nearby bench comfortably and watched. It was strange…most men tended to look right past Natsumi at Chizuru or herself, but Sir Alexander seemed interested only in the mousy little actress. Most peculiar. She placed one hand on the bench beside her and leaned over a bit. Now Natsumi was laughing quietly at some small joke while Sir Alexander's glorious countenance beamed down at her. Ayaka leaned further to the side and stretched a little and moved to a more comfortable position. Now, he was smiling at the other girl as if he knew some secret shared only by him and Natsumi, and Ayaka reached up and pulled at the neck of her sundress, fluttering it a little. Honestly, it was quite hot, here. She stretched in a languorous manner and made herself more comfortable.

----

Natsumi waved delicately at Sir Alexander as he went back into the house and giggled in spite of herself. This was really getting ridiculous! She felt like a kid with her first crush!

It only took her a moment to realize she practically _was_ a kid with her first crush. Kotarou-kun didn't count, that wasn't a crush. It _wasn't_. No. She didn't even consider Negi.

Natsumi turned back to find Ayaka and almost had a heart attack at what she saw.

It was Ayaka, and she was…was _lying there_, on the big stone bench, twisted half around in a precise, carefully calculated manner that pulled the already low cut of her sundress even lower and revealed exaggerated curves through the tightly twisted clothing. The dreamy look on the woman's face only exacerbated the image she presented.

"Ayaka! What are you doing?!" Natsumi demanded in horror.

Ayaka blinked once, twice, then shot up from the bench and straightened her dress in the space of half a second. She coughed delicately into her hand and flipped her hair out of her face, then fastened it back into the ponytail it had been in when the two of them first came outside.

"Ahem, *cough* Nothing. Nothing is wrong, Natsumi-san," Ayaka said.

"That's not the question I asked," Natsumi replied, sweatdropping.

"Er…right! Well! Let's go back inside!" Ayaka said, desperately trying to change the subject from her failed attempt at seduction. Maybe Sir Alexander was…*gasp*…_gay_? That would explain why he hadn't shown any interest in her. Unless…maybe…he preferred girls like Natsumi? She shuddered as her ego took a critical hit.

"I…I think I want to go back to my room," Ayaka muttered, near the point of collapse.

----

Supper was rather awkward for Ayaka, but the other two people present didn't seem to notice. She scowled rather unprettily as she ate some odd tasting veal.

"It had three holes, and I really wanted one," Natsumi said, practically sparkling at her conversation partner as she spoke.

"Really? I heard about those; I always wanted to see one in person," Sir Alexander replied, sparkling back at Natsumi.

Ayaka had a brief urge to vomit, but held it back by sheer force of will and late-teenage angst. At this point, she would almost welcome Lady Rosalind's presence, just to break up the wildly flirting couple seated across from each other further down the table. Unfortunately, the old hag had decided not to attend supper today, either. As for Chizuru, she was 'otherwise occupied', whatever that was supposed to mean. Ayaka was a bit worried, but Chizuru could take care of herself. Chizuru was an incredibly powerful mage now, after all, as strong as Misa or Nodoka or even Konoka, in her own way; there was little to worry about there.

"Remember what I said, Miss Natsumi…if you ever need anything, just call my name," Sir Alexander said, smiling prettily as he and Natsumi stood up simultaneously. He took her hand from across the table and kissed it, actually _kissed_ it! Ayaka rolled her eyes and took another bite of veal as the other walked to one of the doors, sparkled at each other a bit more, and finally said their goodbyes. Natsumi floated back to the table with a dreamy expression on her face, and Ayaka decided that she had had enough.

"Now see here Natsumi-san!"

"Where is Chizu-nee?"

Both girls paused, waiting for the other to speak. After a few false starts, Ayaka finally answered Natsumi's question.

"Chizuru-san is otherwise engaged, didn't you hear the servant?"

Natsumi frowned and shook her head. Before she could reply, however, Ayaka interrupted.

"Small wonder, with the way you've been flirting with Sir Alexander! What about Kotarou-san?" Ayaka asked heatedly. Honestly, _everyone_ knew the two of them were crazy about each other!

Natsumi turned red and spluttered for a moment before she could speak again. "W-what _about_ Kotarou-kun? H-he's just a kid, that's all. He still watches Kamen Rider!"

Ayaka raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow as she looked at the other girl. "And you have the box sets of Inuyasha and Sailor Moon, Natsumi-san."

"Th-that doesn't matter!" Natsumi wailed as she felt herself turn red from her head to her feet.

Ayaka decided to take pity on the girl and change the subject. They would leave soon enough, after all, and Sir Alexander would exit Natsumi's life as swiftly as he had entered it. It was for the best, after all; the man was obviously running some sort of con. They had other things to worry about, however; such as whoever had tried to enter her room the night before, and the big animal that had sniffed around outside Natsumi's door.

"So, what do you want to do about tonight?" Ayaka asked.

Natsumi scrunched her eyebrows together as she thought. Honestly, she didn't think the servants would let them stay in the same room, not without Chizuru or her aunt's orders.

"The Lady Rosalind wishes for you to return to your rooms immediately," one of the servants said suddenly, surprising the two girls.

"Don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack," Natsumi said, panting and clutching at her heart as she tried to calm herself down. The servant just looked at her with a bland expression on his face.

Ayaka scowled at him and took Natsumi by the arm. "Let's go, there is no use waiting any longer." She turned to the servant. "Where is Chizuru-san? Is she still busy?"

"The Lady Chizuru is currently indisposed," the servant answered. Ayaka scowled, but dropped it. Something weird was going on here, but…oh well. There was no point in causing trouble here.

"Very well. Please give her my regards. Come along, Natsumi-san, we had best prepare for bed."

Natsumi voiced her agreement and followed Ayaka as she went through the door; but, sure enough, the servant rushed ahead to lead them and, sure enough, he refused to allow the two of them to stay together for the night. Natsumi was a good sport about it, even if she did send Ayaka a worried look as the servant hustled her out through the doorway.

When they were gone, Ayaka quickly closed and locked the door and, following Natsumi's advice, wedged a key into part of the lock in such a way that it couldn't be removed without coming into the room to remove it. After that, she followed the same methods of securing the room as she had used the night before; the curtain rod and the chair, with the added defense of a heavy, sharply serrated steak knife she had quietly pocketed during supper. With any luck, she wouldn't need it; she hoped she wouldn't have to use it.

With nothing left to do, she climbed into bed, made sure the steak knife was close to hand, and thought about Natsumi. The other girl was…odd, to say the least. She used magic with an ease that left Ayaka breathless, but in other areas she was sorely lacking. It was enough to drive a person mad, Ayaka thought at times. But...it wasn't as if she disliked the girl, she loved Natsumi like a sister, and wanted only the best for her, but the girl's lack of common sense…!

Ayaka sighed in a most unladylike way and rolled over, dragging the blanket with her. How irritating. This whole ugly castle on its pitiful ragged little island was irritating, not to mention its horrible owner. The Lady Rosalind…hmph.

And, with such thoughts in her head, Ayaka eventually fell into a shallow, listless sleep.

----

The third day on the island began not unlike the previous, though there had been no disruptions in the night to wake Ayaka or Natsumi; not that either had slept particularly well in any case.

Ayaka barely managed to hold back a groan as she arrived at the breakfast table, only to see Lady Rosalind and Sir Alexander already engaged in lively conversation. Natsumi arrived a moment after Ayaka had been seated, but there was, again, no sign of Chizuru.

"Where is Chizuru?" Ayaka asked after the formalities were over. She was really quite irritable after a long night with little sleep, and had to work to keep a grimace from showing on her face.

"Don't be nosy," Rosalind snapped. _Not that the whereabouts of the girl are any of YOUR concern, half breed rice girl._

Ayaka was most definitely _not_ in the mood to deal with such things at the moment, and was on the verge of throwing her bowl of porridge or oatmeal or whatever the woman decided to call it, until Sir Alexander suddenly spoke up.

"Now now Lady Rosalind, there is no need to be so peevish this early in the morning," he admonished. And, to Ayaka's shock, the woman seated on the far end of the table deflated like a balloon.

"I suppose you are right, Sir Alexander." And that was it, the matter was dropped. Then the beautiful man turned to Ayaka and smiled, and she couldn't help but smile back. He was just so _beautiful_, like a manly version of a bishonen from one of those shoujo manga books Natsumi liked so much.

"Chizuru is tied up somewhere else at the moment; I am sure she will be free later in the day," he said reassuringly while Ayaka nodded dumbly. "Don't worry," he added after a moment. "The Lady Rosalind may seem harsh at times, but that is just her way, and such things are to be forgiven if possible."

Ayaka saw Natsumi glance up at Sir Alexander, wide eyed, and it took Ayaka herself a moment to realize first what the man had said, and then whom he had said it in front of. Her gaze shot to Lady Rosalind, who was idly stirring the contents of her bowl with a spoon as if she hadn't heard Sir Alexander's comment. Now _that_ was peculiar. Most peculiar.

The rest of breakfast passed with idle, meaningless chitchat, and Ayaka soon found herself walking alongside Sir Alexander in the hallway as he began talking about secret passageways and the like.

"I think there's one in my room," Ayaka said during a pause.

"Truly? That...I want to see it," he said excitedly, looking at her with his beautiful, beautiful eyes.

Ayaka nodded dumbly and led him back to her room.

Once inside, she showed him to the closet and sat on the bed while he poked around inside for a moment.

"Oh, look at this! I think I found something, Ayaka," he said excitedly, snapping Ayaka out of the daze she had been in for the past fifteen minutes ago. It wasn't until that moment that she realized the situation she had put herself in. Here she was, seated on her bed as if ready to take gentleman callers, and Sir Alexander was rooting around in the closet, where some of her clothes were hanging!

Her eyes narrowed as she considered this, his cowing of Lady Rosalind, and the events of the day before. It must some sort of magic compulsion…there was no way around it. If true, then Sir Alexander was not as friendly as he seemed, and was taking advantage of everyone present.

"Ayaka."

Her head snapped up and her eyes met Sir Alexander's. "Yes?"

He gave her a searching look, then nodded. "I think I found it, come and look."

"Found what?" Ayaka heard herself saying. No! She must fight the compulsion!

"The lever that opens the secret door in the closet. Come on," he said, motioning her forward. "Here, take this," he said as he gave her a flashlight, which she took without even thinking about it. "Go inside," he said, holding the closet door open. Ayaka went inside.

"Turn around and close the door." Ayaka did as he commanded.

"Good. Now shine the light at the upper right side corner, do you see the lever up there?" he asked, his voice muffled by the closed door.

"Yes, I see it," Ayaka answered dreamily.

"Good. Now pull it down." Ayaka pulled on the small bit of metal, surprised at the resistance it offered. Soon enough, however, the hidden door behind her swung inward on well oiled hinges and she waited for Sir Alexander's orders.

"Do you see the passageway?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Now, step on that small pedal in the corner and it should shut again." Ayaka did so, and the door swung back in silence except for a light _snap_ and click as something caught and the door latched shut.

"Is the door shut?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Now, come out here."

Ayaka mechanically opened the door and exited the closet, and moved to stand robotically before Sir Alexander, waiting for his next order.

"Ayaka," he said, and suddenly Ayaka was again aware of some strangeness about her previous actions, and stepped back further away from Sir Alexander, who looked seriously at her.

"Now Ayaka, you must not, I repeat _must not_ go into that secret passage. There is no telling where it might lead, and it might be dangerous. Such places are often set up with traps such as spike pits or dead ends you can't get out of, or other similar things. You _must not_ go in there alone!"

Ayaka looked at the closet, but nodded at Sir Alexander to show her understanding. Magic compulsion, eh? It seemed as though he wasn't particularly good at it, it kept cutting off and he didn't seem to realize it.

"Do you understand?" he asked.

"I do," Ayaka answered, trying her best to seem as if she were still under the compulsion spell. So he wanted to manipulate her, did he? Well, two could play at that game.

"Good. Now…I have something else to take care of. Why don't you go to sleep for a while? I'm sure you must be exhausted," he said.

"Yes…I am exhausted," Ayaka replied as she moved to stand beside the bed.

"Good. I will inform the servants that you are not to be disturbed for several hours. Is that sufficient?"

"It is," Ayaka said.

"Good. Good night, Ayaka dear," he said, smiling slightly at her as he shut the door behind him.

Ayaka locked the door and went straight for her flashlight, then to the closet.

----

Natsumi found herself wandering around an unfamiliar area of the mansion, without quite recalling how she had gotten there.

"What in the world…?" she said aloud, looking around. Where was this? The last thing she remembered, she had been standing outside the dining room where they had eaten breakfast.

"Maybe it's sleepwalking. It's gotta be, I didn't sleep very well last night, and…" she trailed off as she glanced out through the foggy glass of a fancily carved window. It appeared she was pretty high up, at least fifty or sixty feet. It was almost enough to make her dizzy. She stepped back and had an abrupt urge to head to the roof so she could get a better view, so she began searching for some stairs and quickly found them at the far end of the hallway. She went up three floors, and then up through a trapdoor onto a wide stone flagged courtyard on the roof, complete with various pieces of decorative stone and plants, forming a wide circle over a hundred feet across with a vast empty space in the middle, except for one oddly shaped big stone table in the very center. She wandered over to the parapet that went all the way around the roof, and looked out between two merlons at the ground so far below.

She could hardly believe her eyes, so she ran around the perimeter of the roof, looking over the edge every twenty feet or so. Her eyes hadn't deceived her…

The stone flagged walkways on the ground below, the stone benches and flower beds and statuary, the outbuildings and trees and bushes…the shape was unmistakable.

Somehow, for some unknown reason, this castle was built as a single, gigantic magic circle. Recalling what she had noticed first upon arriving on the roof, her gaze shot to the center of the roof and that oddly shaped stone table that now seemed so ominous. It wasn't a table…it was an altar. An altar of the sort commonly used for human sacrifice. She approached it warily and, to her mounting horror, found small metal loops hidden underneath, perfectly positioned to hold someone in place with ropes or chains. And, now that she had recognized it, there seemed to be a low magical pulse that probably contributed greatly to the sheer oppressiveness she had felt since arriving here. This circle was ready for activation, no doubt about it; it was fairly humming with power.

"I've got to tell Ayaka and Chizuru about this, I've got to—"

"No…I'm afraid you won't tell anyone about anything," someone said coldly from behind her.

Natsumi whirled around and her eyes widened. "You…!"

Then everything went black and she knew no more.

----

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----

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Author's Note: And…here we go with the cliché cliffhanger chapter ending. One more to go, now. Also, congrats if you caught that vague reference to another Akamatsu work's anime version. If not, it probably just seemed really random…oh well.


	3. Chapter 3

Still Waters 2.7: The Queen of Light

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Gotta Find The Queen Of All My Dreams

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The secret passage Ayaka found herself in was really more of a tunnel, and not quite tall enough for her to stand comfortably without worrying about whether she might bump her head. The tunnel was very long and made many turns, and Ayaka soon found her sense of direction completely gone. Already she had been in this narrow space for twenty minutes or more, and several times had come upon tiny holes that let her look into various rooms, most of which thus far had been bedrooms. It was quite disturbing, and she made a mental note to check her own room for similar things later, and to warn Natsumi to do the same when she saw her next.

Several times she had seen other tunnels branching off from this one, but with all the twisting and elevation changes, she was afraid she might become completely lost if she were to enter any of the other passageways. Sir Alexander's warning, whether he had believed her under compulsion or not, still rang in her mind, after all. _Such places are often set up with traps such as spike pits or dead ends you can't get out of, or other similar things._ A useful bit of information she wouldn't have considered before. Already she had found two drop offs which she might have blundered into if she hadn't been watching for them.

Her musings stopped for a moment as she came to an area where the tunnel sloped sharply downward, and she braced her hands against the wall as she scooted down on her bottom, silently thanking whatever deity might be watching that she had decided to change into a pair of pants just before entering the secret passage; the dress she had worn before would be a nightmare to wear in this place. She followed the slope downward until it came to a flat place like a stair landing where the passage turned in two sharp ninety degree angles, then sloped sharply downward again. Ayaka looked back the way she had come. That slope…it might be hard to get back up there, but the walls were rough enough to provide the friction to pull oneself back up the slope if necessary. She continued downward.

That slope led to another landing which led to another slope and another landing. If her sense of distance were correct, she was now perhaps as much as thirty feet underground; and yet the tunnel kept going downward. After several more landings, the tunnel finally straightened out and became level, and she found herself staring at a blank wall at the end of the passage.

Ayaka frowned and approached cautiously, lest there be some sort of trap, but…nothing. She was ready to turn around and leave when she spotted a small lever high on the wall, almost exactly like the one in her closet that opened the hidden door. She searched for a moment and found a tiny hole she could peek through into the room beyond, but…there was nothing but an inky blackness. She decided to take a chance and pull the lever.

The door swung away and she entered the room, moving the flashlight around so she could see what sort of place she was in.

The room was quite large, easily fifty feet across, and almost perfectly square. It reeked of the scent produced by burning garbage, and the floor was black and covered in carvings. The walls, except for a heavy, ironbound door on the far side of the room, all held shelves filled for the most part with books; on closer inspection she recognized several books on magic also present in Negi-sensei's or Eva's collections, along with others she had never seen before. The titles were written in many languages; she recognized English, Russian, Arabic, German, French, and Spanish, along with the ever-present Latin…apparently someone here was a polyglot. Most of the books seemed to be the usual sort of magical text, though some…

'Shadow Magic: A Practical Application'

'Atlantian Curses'

'Soul Imprisonment'

'Practical Demonology'

While Ayaka wasn't particularly good at magic, she wasn't ignorant about it either. While the book about Shadow Magic was…borderline, and she had never even _heard_ of Atlantian _anything_, the other two were of the sort commonly banned by the mage community as a whole, especially 'Practical Demonology', a title she recalled reading about before. Why on earth would Lady Rosalind have books like these? Sure, she was an irritating old hag, but she seemed intelligent; too intelligent to go around making deals with demons.

Ayaka moved on to the next shelf, which was full of glass jars containing various items, most of which were in an advanced state of decay. Perhaps this room was unused? In that case, the owner of the books could be the previous resident of the castle. It was a reassuring thought, but…she shivered as she considered the concept of _that woman_ with access to demonic power. It was a sobering thought, and unsettling as well.

It was an interesting room to be sure, but…was this room what Sir Alexander didn't want her to find? He obviously hadn't wanted her to go into the tunnel system; was he that afraid of Lady Rosalind getting arrested or turned into an ermine for possessing illegal books?

She turned to go back to the tunnel and her flashlight panned over the room. She moved the light back to shine on the floor, and she noticed something she had missed in her initial inspection of the room. The floor wasn't black, it was made of gray stone, the same as the rest of the room. The blackness was where the stone had actually been _cooked_ by huge amounts of magic power. Now that she saw it clearly, she realized where the stench of burned garbage was coming from, and she could see the burn marks radiating out in waves from the center of the room, where a six foot circle of floor had been melted into a slight depression. A quick test with her finger showed that the charred floor was recent, perhaps as recent as a week ago. The burn marks were consistent with what she had learned of mages burning themselves out; attempting to use too much power all at once and damaging themselves in some mysterious way that prevented their use of any meaningful amount of magic ever again.

So…who had burned themselves out? Lady Rosalind? Sir Alexander? Some unknown third party?

She checked her watch again and found that almost an hour had passed since Sir Alexander left her in her room…it was time to go back before someone came to check on her.

----

Supper was most unusual. Now, not only was Chizuru still 'otherwise engaged', but Natsumi was now 'indisposed', leaving Ayaka all alone with Lady Rosalind. Apparently Sir Alexander was otherwise engaged as well.

The sheer weight of the silence hanging over the table was suffocating, to say the least. Ayaka carefully placed down her knife and fork and looked across the table at Chizuru's aunt. She had to find out what was going on…!

"Lady Rosalind," Ayaka began, doing her level best to avoid any hint of unsaid things. She thought of those books in that room fifty feet below them and barely managed to repress a shudder.

"What is it?" the woman asked, tiredly. For once, there was not even a hint of an insult…peculiar.

'She looks as if she hasn't slept in days,' Ayaka thought. "Ah…nevermind." Lady Rosalind turned her attention back to her meal and Ayaka excused herself from the table; she doubted the other woman would tell her anything useful, and she had plans to make, after all. First Chizuru had gone missing, and now Natsumi…to say she was worried would be an understatement.

----

Back in her room, Ayaka circled the perimeter of the room, looking for spying holes like those she had seen in the tunnel earlier. Sure enough, she found three, and plugged or covered each as well as she could.

So they thought they could spy on her and kidnap her friends, did they? 'I will show them what it means to mess with a member of Ala Alba…' Ayaka thought grimly.

----

Late that night, Ayaka climbed out of bed and quickly changed into a pair of pants and a T-shirt that were easy to move around in and listened at the door until she was sure the hallway was empty. She unlocked the door and slipped out into the dark and silent hallway, watching carefully for any of the servants. She quickly knelt down and pulled the door shut on a long strand of hair; if someone opened the door, the piece of hair would fall and she would know someone had been in the room. She locked the door, put the door key in her pocket, and set off for Natsumi's room.

The trip there was uneventful, and Natsumi's room was locked. She knocked lightly on the door. "Natsumi?" she asked quietly. No response. She looked down the hallway in both directions, then pulled a lockpick and tension wrench from her pocket and got to work. "I'll have to thank Mana later," she mumbled after a moment as she finished picking the lock and opened the door. Honestly, you never knew what skills might come in handy some day…

Natsumi's room was empty.

Ayaka checked the room over for any clues but found nothing; it was as if Natsumi had simply stepped out for a moment and not come back. She opened the door again and was about to go back out into the hallway when she heard a snuffling sound and stopped. A quick glance in the gloom further down showed a large lumbering form moving slowly but inexorably forward, so she quickly shut the door and locked it, and hoped that whatever it was wouldn't find her here.

She looked around the room for anything she might use to defend herself, but…while the furniture wasn't as large or heavily built as it was in her room, the only thing she could move was a chair, which would be too awkward against whatever that…_thing_ might be. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, to remember the training from Ku Fei and Mana. She became still as she listened to the thing plodding down the hallway. It stopped outside the door and made a sound like some big animal sniffing around or breathing heavily. After a moment, the sounds stopped and Ayaka waited with bated breath while the thing just stood there outside.

The seconds stretched on and on until the thing gave a loud sniff and moved on. When she judged enough time had passed, she opened the door a crack and peaked out; she saw nothing, so she stepped out into the hallway and went the opposite direction the creature took; no sense in heading straight toward danger when she was simply scouting, anyway.

However, two near misses with wandering servants made her nervous, and she soon decided to head back. 'There is no sense in pushing my luck too far,' she thought as she knelt down before the door. Sure enough, the hair she had placed in the door had fallen.

Someone had been in her room, maybe _still was_ in her room.

Ayaka listened at the door for a moment, but there was no sound she could hear. She heard distant footsteps echoing down the hallway and decided she might as well go in and face whatever she might find.

The sound of footsteps drew closer, so she opened the door and stepped inside, and he smiled at her teasingly from his place in the one of the chairs.

----

Natsumi had been in a daze, half-awake, for quite some time before she actually realized she was awake. The first thing she felt was an agonizing burn in her chest and shoulders, and then she realized she couldn't move; for some reason her arms were suspended above her. Her eyes snapped wide open and she took in her surroundings frantically. _Sir Alexander had…!_ She had to escape and warn Ayaka and Chizu-nee! She stood up straight to take some of the stress from her arms and took another, longer look around. The room she was in, as far as she could tell in the dark, was unfamiliar. Unfortunately, she could make out few details other than where the furniture was located due to the small amount of moonlight let in by the foggy window glass.

Really, it was fairly obvious she was chained to the ceiling in Sir Alexander's room…where else could she be? She doubted she had been taken off the island, after all. Not to mention the fact that she recognized the style of the window frames as belonging to Chizuru's aunt's castle. Surely there couldn't be two places with such terrible taste!

She just had to find a way to escape, that was all. Step one: Get the feeling back in her hands.

She braced herself and began to shake her arms wildly to get her blood flowing again.

----

Chizuru walked tiredly out of the lower levels of the basement, her brow furrowed in thought at what she had found in the main laboratory. Something bizarre had happened in there, and someone had been burned out. She had her suspicions, but…

"Lady Chizuru, you should not be out of your room after dark," one of the servants said so suddenly that she jumped.

"Oh sorry, you scared me," Chizuru said. She took a moment to catch her breath and get her thoughts straightened out; the servant simply stood waiting, as expected. His kind was well behaved, after all; they had to be. "Don't worry, I'm going there now."

"I shall escort you," he replied immediately. Chizuru frowned slightly, but he didn't seem to see it, and she sighed in resignation.

"Fine," she said finally. She waited while the servant took his customary position several steps in front of her and led the way, holding a small lamp high. 'Not that he needs it,' Chizuru thought to herself. Honestly, why had Aunty Rosalind even bothered with such a thing? It wasn't as if she received many guests, and the effort involved in training them for such things wasn't really worth the trouble…

She paused and stepped aside as Smokey-kun lumbered by, then rejoined the servant as he once again began leading the way back to her room.

----

"So…" Ayaka said. "You are in my room because…?"

Sir Alexander shrugged sheepishly and gave her a winning smile. "I had something I wanted to see you about, that's all. No need to worry," he said soothingly.

Ayaka wasn't buying any of it and apparently it showed on her face, because he continued.

"Do you remember our little talk earlier today?" he asked, fixing her in place with his eyes.

Ayaka felt her self control start to waver and fought it as hard as she could, until the mental pressure she hadn't even realized was present suddenly disappeared. She tore her gaze away and Sir Alexander looked startled.

She gathered her nerve and fixed _him_ in place with a glare. "I know about you, you know."

Sir Alexander raised one perfect eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

Ayaka shuddered as the last of the compulsion spell faded away. "I know you're a mage, and I know you're here to take advantage of Lady Rosalind and the three of us. Well…I won't allow it!"

Sir Alexander took in a deep breath, held it, and let it out; then, before Ayaka could so much as blink, he was up and out of the chair and had her jammed against the wall, held in place by an invisible wall of pressure.

"You won't get away with this!" Ayaka gasped out. It was sort of hard to breathe, being pressed against the wall like this, but that didn't stop her from talking.

Sir Alexander again raised one perfect eyebrow and took her chin in his hand and turned her head this way and that. "Hmm…excellent facial structure; your cheekbones are quite nice," he said randomly. Ayaka tried to jerk her head away, but he tightened his grip on her jaw, digging his fingers in painfully for perhaps half a second before releasing her face. He strolled back in the candlelight and sat down comfortably on the chair, and smiled at her. It wasn't the friendly, open, slightly dense smile he had shown in earlier meetings; this was the smile of a cold, calculating man whose plot has born unexpected fruit.

"What do you want?" Ayaka demanded.

"My enemies dead, my friends rewarded, a new woman every night, and the world brought to me on a silver platter," he said, that calculating smile never leaving his face for long. "That is the sort of answer you expected, correct?"

Ayaka just looked at him, dumbfounded.

"Of course I want those things; what sane man doesn't? But there are other things I want more," he said, bringing one leg up and propping his ankle atop his other knee. He leaned back comfortably before speaking again.

"I want the Seeker's Rod, for one; the secrets of your friend Natsumi, for another. Ah, I see," he said upon seeing Ayaka's expression. "You care deeply for the girl; that is good. Friends are to be treasured."

"You stay away from her," Ayaka said warningly.

"Oh, don't worry about that; I had trouble getting anywhere near here. The light, you understand. When I kissed her hand on her second day on the island…so fragile, that; I was afraid I might break her hand…my lips were badly burned. My kind don't take well to such things, I'm afraid."

Ayaka gave him an odd look. "Your kind?" What on earth was he talking about?

"Oh, you know all about me, so no doubt you already know _that_," he said condescendingly as he stood up, clasped his hands behind his back, and took on a lecturing tone as he began pacing around the room. "You have heard the stories, I'm sure. 'Blood sucking demons', 'nosferatu'…vampires. Afraid of garlic, running streams, and religious symbols? Yes, I see you are familiar with such things. That would no doubt be from your familiarity with Evangeline A.K. McDowell. Oh don't look so surprised; I know all about that one, most vampires do. Captured by Nagi Springfield and cursed to remain magically chained on a particular patch of ground until he removes the curse…unfortunately, he's dead, or so they say. I understand his son is quite the up-and-comer, however."

Ayaka just stared at him, goggle-eyed.

Alexander stopped before her and turned to face her. "I knew your grandmother you know; you favor her. Quite the woman; almost killed me twice. I only escaped the second time by a freak accident. Needless to say, I didn't return to this world for quite some time."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ayaka asked suspiciously. He had known her grandmother?! _Her grandmother had fought vampires!?_ She simply remembered a friendly woman with an open smile; but now she began to recall small things she hadn't really noticed before. The crucifix necklace the old woman had always worn, the vial of water (no doubt blessed) she always carried in her pocket, the religious symbols which she had kept spread all over her house; the bag of salt carefully hidden in every room and the silver ball bearings kept in small decorative bowls placed here and there gave new meaning to the slingshot the old woman always had ready to hand. She was jolted back to reality by Alexander's polite cough.

Ayaka looked up and Alexander grinned at her. It wasn't playful or winning or even bland; it was _vicious_. "I want you to help me." His grin became amused, however, when he saw the look on her face. "Oh don't be like that; what I want isn't anything evil or cruel. What I want, to put it simply, is known as the Seeker's Rod. I believe I described it to you before."

"I remember. What is it?" Ayaka asked cautiously as she recalled the description he had given. --_a rod, you see, about so long, and covered in intricate carvings--_

Alexander nodded approvingly. "Very good; question everything, Ayaka. You'll live longer that way. The Seeker's Rod is an ancient artifact, far older than you people seem to think civilization on Earth is, which, quite simply, helps the holder locate a certain thing. As for what that thing is, I will retain that information at present. Just know that it is vital that I am the one to get the rod, and not the others. This is a very important artifact, and its use may very well save the world; or end it, depending on its holder. As for me, I wish to continue living, so you have no need to worry about my intentions for the rod."

"So are you saying something like that is here in Lady Rosalind's castle? Why? And why would you need my help to get it?" Ayaka demanded; she decided to ignore his over-familiar use of her name. No sense in provoking a vampire _too _far, after all. She forced herself to put up a tough façade as she looked at him. She thought she had taken Sir Alexander's measure now; he seemed to be the type with a single goal he always pursued, even as smaller plots and pieces were put into play or sacrificed as necessary. And a vampire…! She barely managed to repress a shudder as she thought about that. He knew Eva, knew about magic, and seemed to be very powerful. She recalled the incident earlier, when he had warned her not to go into the secret tunnel in her closet. No doubt he had had perfect control over that compulsion spell and had manipulated her into entering the secret passageway so she would think it had been her own idea. He had been playing them all from the very beginning…!

"That is truly a bad habit, you know," he said. "Someone might take advantage if you get lost in thought too often." He sat down comfortably and pulled out a dagger with a long, narrow blade and began cleaning his nails with it. "As for why the rod is here and not in, say, the royal palace in Ostia is because it was stolen long ago by a man commonly known by the name 'The Mad Mage of Moeris', a misguided mage who stole the rod from its proper place and escaped with it here, to the old world. This happened, oh, eight or nine hundred years ago. When the Mad Mage died, he passed it on to the next holder, who passed it on to the next and the next, until it finally fell into the hands of the man who built this castle. From there, it dropped out of sight. Hence logic dictates that the rod is here, or that the means to find it is here." Sir Alexander leaned back in his chair and began spinning the dagger around a finger in a way that reminded Ayaka of Natsumi, when the girl got bored and began to spin pencils around her fingers in increasingly intricate ways. Ayaka had tried it once when no one was looking; her eye had hurt for the rest of the day…

"That is all very interesting," Ayaka spat, "But what does this have to do with me?"

Sir Alexander's knowing grin was infuriating, to say the least. "Why, I don't know, you tell me."

Ayaka barely managed to repress a snarl at the man's infuriating manner, and forced herself to think. As far as she was aware, her family had had no contact with Chizuru's family until the two of them met at Mahora, and she doubted Sir Alexander wanted money. So that left…what?

"Take your time," he said.

Ayaka _did_ snarl this time, but quickly repressed it and took several deep breaths to calm herself sufficiently. When she judged herself capable of speech without verbally tearing him a new one, she spoke. "This is a very uncomfortable position, Sir Alexander. If you would…?" she asked, nodding down at the invisible wall of pressure that held her to the wall.

"Very well," he said, and then, in an instant and without any sign of command from him, the pressure simply…disappeared, and Ayaka barely caught herself in time to avoid ending up in a clumsy heap on the floor.

"Thank you," she said primly as she straightened her clothing. "I have some questions."

"Feel free to ask. I make no promise that I will answer, however."

Ayaka nodded. Best to go along with him for now; when she had gathered Chizuru and Natsumi together, she could force him to answer anything she asked. That had to wait for later, though. Now…

"Why did you want me to go into that tunnel?"

Sir Alexander grinned in a cat-that-ate-the-canary sort of way and Ayaka frowned. "You tell me."

"You wanted me to see something?" she asked. He nodded. "What?"

"What did you see?"

Ayaka's frown deepened. "I saw a room."

"And in the room?"

"A big magic circle."

"And covering that circle?"

"Ashes and scorch marks. What happened there?"

"They say that when one burns him or herself out, magic power whirls around wildly, draining the foolish mage in mere seconds. Now, what use might one have for freed magical power?"

Ayaka thought about it for a moment. Really, the answer was obvious, but… "To power something?"

"Indeed. And what sort of thing needs large amounts of unrefined magical power?"

Ayaka wracked her brain for bits of information picked up from overheard conversations between Negi-sensei and the other mages. This was getting into well-trained-mage territory, something she hadn't been skilled enough to worry about until now. "Searching spells, mass destruction spells, curses, curse removal…"

"True. Now, if one were, perhaps, searching for something…?"

"Something like an artifact?" Ayaka asked, finally understanding.

"Perhaps. Something well hidden, protected by dozens of lines of defense…?"

"Lines of defense one would have to remove or break through," Ayaka said, nodding. "How many are left?"

Sir Alexander grinned broadly at her; it seemed he was enjoying himself. "One. The circle you found underground is the final power collection spell. All that's needed now is to provide sufficient power to overcome the final line of defense. One final surge should do it."

"But Lady Rosalind was burned out by the circle in the basement," Ayaka said thoughtfully. Her frown returned and she eyed him warily. "And you want Chizuru to power the circle."

Sir Alexander nodded and flipped the chair backward just in time to avoid the spinning kick Ayaka aimed at his face. He rolled with the motion of the chair and came up facing her, ten feet away.

"You manage to surprise me every time I see you," he said, eyeing her curiously. "You really _do_ take after your grandmother."

Ayaka prepared herself for a close battle when Sir Alexander simply…vanished. Trusting her instincts, Ayaka ducked and darted forward, grabbed the leg of the overturned chair and twisted around, flinging the chair at the spot she had previously stood, missing Sir Alexander by mere inches.

He clapped mockingly. "Very good. Given time and a nice tool to work with, you might be a credible threat." He ducked a strike aimed at his head, grabbed Ayaka's arm, and flipped her to the floor before stepping back to open some more distance. "Your reaction times are good, your instincts excellent, your movements…fair. You still have too much wasted motion—" he paused to slip around another jab, this time smoothly spinning around behind Ayaka. He wrenched one arm up in a hammer lock, settled his arm around her throat in a chokehold, and lightly kicked the back of her knees to force her down to a more stable position. He let up slightly on the chokehold before she could fall unconscious, and resumed his speech. "Remember this, Yukihiro Ayaka: Practice your skills, train your body, sharpen your mind. Find a powerful artifact suited to your abilities. Do this, and you may survive the next few years. Something big is beginning and the whole world is rising to face it. Those who don't, will die. That is all you need to know for now. Also, don't worry about your friends; their deaths will profit no one, and Chizuru will be fine even if she does power the magic circle. She is much stronger than her aunt; there is no risk." He abruptly let go of Ayaka and gave her a shove so she fell to the floor.

Ayaka scrambled back to her feet, but Sir Alexander was gone. She rubbed her arm, still sore from the hammerlock, and growled in annoyance. The man was just so infuriating…!

----

Ayaka looked around curiously as she was led into the breakfast room the next morning. The dining room was empty of people except for herself and the servant who had brought her here. She turned around and gave the man a good look, really _seeing_ him for the first time. After her mother had fired and replaced the servants she had grown up with, Ayaka had become used to seeing servants as part of the background; a person, true, but merely an employee rather than a friend. She looked at the man's face and couldn't repress the shudder that went through her. It wasn't as if he were ugly or malformed or anything so obvious; in fact, he was perfect. The problem arose in that he was _too _perfect. Instead of the usual peculiarities of the average human—the nose that was ever-so-slightly askew, minor skin blemishes, that sort of thing—he was _perfect_. A perfectly symmetrical face, perfect hair, perfect expressions, none of which reached his eyes, which might have belonged to a dead fish. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she might say he was—

"Good morning Ayaka-san," Chizuru said tiredly.

Ayaka whirled around to face the other girl and saw her standing in an open doorway. "Chizuru-san! Oh thank God, I thought—What happened to you?!"

The brunette's appearance could best be described as exhausted, or possibly ragged. She looked as if she had been under extreme stress for quite some time, and Ayaka was fairly sure she was wearing the same dress she had been wearing the last time she had seen her.

Chizuru looked abashed. "Nothing happened, I was just…taking care of something. But where is Natsumi-san?"

Ayaka gave her an odd look, but set it aside for now; she would wheedle the truth out of the other girl before too long. Instead, she glanced sideways at the servant who had brought her here, then took Chizuru's arm and moved a small distance away, until she felt safe from eavesdropping. "She's been missing since the middle of the day yesterday. Your aunt wouldn't tell me anything, and I haven't seen Sir Alexander today to ask him," she whispered. She knew there was something else she should have asked him last night… She frowned as a disturbing thought crossed her mind. "You don't think…?"

Chizuru's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No! She wouldn't!"

"Quick, where is his room? Show me!" Ayaka demanded.

"It's on the fifth floor," Chizuru said as she led the way from the dining room. Ayaka glanced back at the servants, but they were just standing there, as if they didn't even care that she and Chizuru were skipping breakfast.

Ayaka followed as Chizuru led the way through the twisting, mazelike hallways, past the smoking room with its enormous stuffed bear, and finally up the stairs, which continued for several floors before ending abruptly. Chizuru led the way to the next section of staircases, then went up another flight of stairs and finally emerged on the fifth floor. Ayaka waited while Chizuru caught her breath, then the two of them started forward.

The floorplan for the hallways was so convoluted that Ayaka was quickly lost beyond any hope of finding her way out again, should she be separated from Chizuru. Truly, whoever had designed this place had a devil of an imagination. They continued on and on and on, until Ayaka abruptly stopped.

Chizuru looked at her curiously. "Ayaka-san? Is something—"

"Shh! I heard someone talking," Ayaka said as she cocked her head to the side so as to listen. She narrowed her eyes and tiptoed forward until the next intersection of hallways and peeked around the corner. Nothing. She moved on to the next, and the next and the next.

Ayaka was ready to give up when she peeked around one final corner and had to hold back a gasp at what she saw. Chizuru gave her an odd look as the other girl pulled back, but Ayaka quickly put a finger to her lips to keep Chizuru quiet, then moved back out of the way and motioned for Chizuru to look.

Chizuru moved forward and poked her head out around the corner; what she saw made her eyebrows rise and her jaw drop.

There, in the hallway just around the corner, her aunt Rosalind stood in an embrace with Sir Alexander!

She moved back behind the wall again and exchanged a freaked out look with Ayaka. Aunty Rosalind? With _Sir Alexander_ of all people?! He had to be half her age at best…! She realized Ayaka was tugging on her sleeve, and heard her aunt speaking.

"We should just toss her over the edge. If the fall doesn't kill her, the waves and rocks will," Lady Rosalind said, her voice low and dreamy.

"No…killing her would serve little purpose, Rosalind dear," Sir Alexander said.

Ayaka peeked around the corner again and saw Lady Rosalind lean into him, and he tightened his arm around her waist.

Sir Alexander looked across Rosalind's shoulder and directly into Ayaka's eyes, startling her. "Don't be foolish, Lindy. Many a fatal step has been made in haste," he said, still holding Ayaka's gaze. Rosalind had no clue they were present, she was too wrapped up in Sir Alexander's embrace

"I don't like it," the woman said, pouting. "Chizuru is strong enough for your needs, isn't she? I'll give her to you…" Rosalind said, trailing off at the end.

Chizuru made a strangled sound deep in her throat and Ayaka had to sling her arm around Chizuru's midsection and clap a hand over her mouth to keep her from jumping out and blowing their cover.

When she was sure Chizuru wouldn't do anything stupid, Ayaka released her and took one last look. Sir Alexander made a quick motion with his hand, telling her to go, so she took Chizuru's wrist and dragged her away. They had things to discuss, and plans to make.

----

"She had to have been talking about Natsumi-san," Ayaka said when they were back in her room. Ayaka was seated comfortably on the bed, while Chizuru paced back and forth between the two windows.

"No! Aunty Rosalind would never…I mean…"

Ayaka gave Chizuru a measuring glance. The girl wasn't thinking clearly, that was all. It wasn't exactly a surprise; learning that the woman who had basically been your mother-figure most of your life was willing to give you away to someone you hardly knew as well as viciously murder one of your friends for no better reason than simple dislike tended to do that to a person.

"Then tell me, where is Natsumi-san? She isn't in her room, she didn't sleep there last night, and your aunt wants to throw her off a cliff." Chizuru was far too polite; she needed to be pushed sometimes to get anything done. "So tell me," Ayaka said. "Does this castle have a dungeon? Any place to keep a person so they can't escape?"

Chizuru looked somewhat abashed, but remained silent.

Ayaka eyed her measuringly. "Chizuru, what really happened to you?" she snapped, causing Chizuru to actually _flinch_!

Chizuru looked away in embarrassment. "It's embarrassing…"

"Chizuru, I need to know, it might be important."

Chizuru examined a nail, straightened her dress, wiped a nonexistent bit of dust from a cabinet, and finally gave up. "Aunty Rosalind put me in the cellar."

Ayaka raised an eyebrow. "She put you in the cellar?" What on earth?! That was so…so _clichéd_! It seemed like something the woman would do, though. "So, what happens in the cellar?"

Chizuru was really squirming now, but answered anyway. "All sorts of things depending on how bad my actions were. Sometimes she made me sort out books or papers, or scrub the laboratories. If I was really bad, she would lock me in the dungeon and…and threaten to leave me there," Chizuru said, shuddering.

Ayaka watched the other girl intently. 'She's like a child…!' "Why are you letting her do this to you?!"

Chizuru looked at her helplessly. "Because I was bad. And…she's Aunty Rosalind, I can't go against her—"

"Do I really need to remind you of what we overheard a little while ago?" Ayaka demanded. "What sort of parent locks a naughty child in a dungeon, Chizuru?" She waited for a moment while Chizuru squirmed. "One who doesn't deserve to be a parent, that's what. Now, let me tell you what happened last night…"

----

Sir Alexander entered his room and tossed his fancy jacket so it hung over the back of a chair, and turned to face Natsumi, who eyed him warily.

"So, how are we today?" he asked pleasantly.

"Why did you kidnap me?" Natsumi demanded, steeling herself for whatever his answer might be.

Sir Alexander didn't respond; instead, he poured a cup of wine for himself and approached her, only stopping when he was just out of range for a kick.

"I know what you did with the chain earlier," he said, his amusement showing through in his tone. "And, as amusing as it was to see you trying to pull the chain out of the ceiling, you should know that it is a part of the castle, and won't simply break off. There is no point in injuring yourself, you know."

Natsumi turned red, but he continued.

"In fact…" his expression changed from mildly pleasant to…something much less so as he approached. She tried to kick him, but he swatted her leg aside and was beside her in an instant. "You are quite attractive, in your own way," he said. Natsumi turned a deeper red and tried to wriggle away, but the chain left little space to back away in. He raised and hand and tried to cup her cheek and she tried to bite it, so he laughed and slapped her.

----

Natsumi looked at Sir Alexander, wide-eyed. He had slapped her…he had actually _slapped her_! The _nerve_ of him…! Her lips unconsciously formed a snarl, and he grinned at her as he cupped her cheek again. She felt her face heating up in humiliation, and her face was so hot she almost imagined she could smell smoke, or cooking meat. He removed his hand and the sensation died down.

"That fool Rosalind doesn't see it, but you shine like the sun, as if I might burn up if I touch you…" he said after a moment as he slipped on a pair of gentleman's gloves. He looked at her again, and Natsumi barely managed to maintain her composure. It was all just so _wrong_…! Her self control shattered when he slipped his arms around her and pressed her body against his.

"Oh, how I long to make you mine, sweet Natsumi. Soon, very soon, hehe…ha ha ha…" he trailed off into a bizarre laugh while Natsumi screamed breathlessly and struggled to escape. He was squeezing her too hard, she could barely breathe…! He had his arms around her_, and she hadn't even been kissed by the boy she liked yet!_

He abruptly let go and backed out of kicking range again, and Natsumi backed away from him as far as the chain would allow, her eyes wide and terrified as she gasped for breath. She tried to open her mouth to speak but couldn't make her tongue or lips work; her head was pounding so hard she couldn't think and her heart was racing in terror and she felt light and thin, as if she might blow away in a gust of wind.

And then he _smirked_ at her, showing his perfect teeth, his _fangs_, and she screamed as he left the room; wordless, formless screams of terror.

----

The servants arrived at Ayaka's room some time later and escorted the two of them to the dining room for supper. Upon arrival, Ayaka stopped just outside and grabbed Chizuru's hand.

"Remember what we discussed, Chizuru-san."

Chizuru turned red and nodded, and Ayaka nodded confidently in response. The poor girl was terrified! She gripped Ayaka's hand as if it were a lifeline, and only let go when it was time to sit down at the table.

Ayaka took a quick look around. As expected, only two servants, Lady Rosalind, and Chizuru and herself were present. Perfect.

When everyone was seated around the table in the dining room, Ayaka shot a quick look at Chizuru, who sat awkwardly with her hands in her lap. Ayaka coughed lightly and Chizuru jumped. Lady Rosalind raised an eyebrow and shot Ayaka a look. _Don't you know it is rude to interrupt supper in such a vulgar manner?_

Ayaka simply looked back at her. _I have no time for this frivolous nonsense; there are more important things for me to do._ She shifted her gaze from Lady Rosalind, who appeared taken aback, to Chizuru, who looked as if she wanted to disappear or melt into a puddle on the floor to escape the situation she was about to put herself into.

The servant that had guided Ayaka and Chizuru to the dining room had left as soon as they were seated, as expected, and Ayaka turned to the other servant standing near one of the doors. "May I please have some of the white tea Chizuru has told me so much about? I understand it is simply divine," she said, pouring in as much wide-eyed innocence as she could muster. It wasn't much. The servant turned to Lady Rosalind for instructions, and she nodded. The servant left the room and Ayaka stood up, quickly crossed the floor to the open door, and shut and locked it. She then moved to the other door and did the same; then she just stood there, looking at Chizuru. "Go ahead."

Rosalind looked back and forth between the two girls and narrowed her eyes. She carefully put down her knife and fork, discreetly wiped her hands on a napkin, and opened her mouth to speak. "Now see here—"

Chizuru cut her off. "Aunty Rosalind."

"You dare to interrupt—"

"Yes, I dare," Chizuru said, emboldened now that it was too late to take it back. She had come this far, she might as well go through with the whole thing. She glanced at Ayaka, who nodded encouragingly at her, and turned to face the woman who had raised her after the incident that took her parents away. "I know about Natsumi."

Rosalind narrowed her eyes dangerously and her tone became frigid. "Oh, you know, do you? Well I can tell you, little girl, that what I do with intruders in my own house is none of your concern!"

Ayaka tensed, but Chizuru calmly stood up, walked over to Rosalind, and slapped her across the face. The sound was deafening in the otherwise silent room, and all three women looked shocked at what Chizuru had just done. Rosalind very carefully straightened her hair, pushed her chair back, stood up, and slapped Chizuru twice as hard, drawing a startled noise from somewhere deep in the startled girl's throat.

"You, you brat! Urchin! Devil child! I should have left you to rot in that heathen country! I should have thrown you from the cliff before you could transform into this…this…I should have kept you locked in The Hole!"

Chizuru was rubbing her sore cheek, her expression confusion and shock. That slap…it actually…hadn't been that bad. It was just a little pain, that was all. Was _this_ what she had been afraid of for so long? She realized for the first time that she had been hit much harder by much more fearsome beings than Aunty Rosalind. She had faced beings such as the high level demon Wilhelm; she had even stared down the dragon under library island! Aunty Rosalind was just…Aunt Rosalind.

She looked at Rosalind and, for the first time in her life, _glared_ at the woman. "That…was _weak_," she said.

Rosalind's eyebrows lifted comically and she took a step back in spite of herself. "N-now see here! If you think—"

"Shut up!" Chizuru screeched. "You have done this to me my whole life, and for what? Revenge on Negi-kun? To what purpose?"

Rosalind snarled at the familiarity with which Chizuru used the boy's name. "How _dare_ you speak that name in this house! You know what his father to the family, you know—"

"He is not his father," Chizuru growled. Rosalind took another step back without even realizing it, and even Ayaka was startled. An angry Chizuru was a scary thing; this went beyond angry.

Rosalind barely managed to scrape up enough of her addled wits to retort, but retort she did. "You useless _fool_! You aren't even capable of using the resources available to you! You had a simple job to do, and you failed! You failed to seduce the Springfield whelp, you failed to get rid of his guardians, you failed in everything! You are a failure of a niece, and you are a failure of a black mage! You have disgraced the Strachan name! Get out of my sight!"

Chizuru closed her eyes and clenched her fists, and the very _air_ suddenly became oppressive as dark energy crackled around her. She opened her eyes and looked at Rosalind, who failed to hold back a startled gasp as she backed into the far wall.

"A failure? Perhaps… But my name is not Strachan."

Ayaka noted that Chizuru had lapsed into an odd way of speaking, and made sure she was a fair distance from Lady Rosalind. No sense in taking any more risks than necessary, after all.

"N-no! You are a Strachan! If your foolish mother hadn't married that foul—"

"My name is Naba Chizuru. My mother was a kind woman, and my father was only doing his best to provide for his family," Chizuru muttered as she approached Rosalind, a panther stalking a mouse. "You want to kill my friend Natsumi…who else have you killed? Did you kill my parents?"

Rosalind went white and decided it was time to use her last resort. "D-don't come any closer! I am a mage, Chizuru, and I won't hesitate to defend myself!"

Chizuru laughed, actually _laughed_! "You're not a mage any more. You burned yourself out, you'll never use magic ever again." And then, face to face with Rosalind, she punched her in the stomach. _Hard._ Rosalind let out a pitiful little noise and doubled over, falling against Chizuru, who stepped back and let the woman fall to the floor.

Rosalind, gasping for breath, looked up at her niece. "Ch…Chizu…ru…"

"You always said you wanted me to show some backbone," Chizuru said darkly. Then she turned on her heel and stalked to the nearest door, opened it, and stepped out into the hallway.

Ayaka took one final look at Rosalind, then followed Chizuru.

----

Outside in the hall, Ayaka followed Chizuru as she stalked off in a random direction.

"Chizuru?" she asked as she looked at the other girl's stiff back. Chizuru didn't respond, and Ayaka began to get worried. "Chizuru, hey Chizuru! Look at me!" she demanded, snatching the other girl's wrist to get her to stop. Chizuru refused to face her.

"Chizuru, look at me," Ayaka demanded. Chizuru quickly turned away, so Ayaka pushed her into the wall and held her there. "Chizuru-san, what's going on? That wasn't what we discussed, why did you…you're crying?!"

Chizuru's lip quivered as she tried to stop the building tears in her eyes, but it was no use.

"Oh Ayaka, what have I done?!" Chizuru wailed as she collapsed into the other girl, sobbing.

Ayaka, not knowing what else to do, placed a hand on the other girl's back and rubbed in a circular pattern, occasionally alternating with a pat or two the way she had seen Chizuru herself do with others. "Er…there there, it will be fine, don't worry…" She couldn't see how the relationship between the two could ever be fine again after this, though. Not that she could say that aloud.

"I…I hit her! I hit Aunty Rosalind! Why did I do that?! I was just so mad, and…"

"Shh, don't worry Chizuru-chan, it will be ok. But we have to find Natsumi-san, ok? Come on, get up. We can all cry later, when we're off this stupid island." For some reason, that sent Chizuru into a veritable fit of sobs, and Ayaka had no idea of what to do except to keep repeating that everything would be all right, even if it wasn't true.

After a while, Chizuru finally calmed down and released her grip on Ayaka, who helped her to her feet.

"I…well, I tried to do it like Kotarou-kun. Was it ok?" Chizuru asked, her mouth twitching in an sad attempt at a smile as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"I've never seen better," Ayaka lied, smiling at her. It really _had_ been a good punch though; Chizuru must have spent a great deal of time watching the dog boy fight.

"Are you ready to save Natsumi-san now?" Ayaka asked after a moment. Chizuru nodded. "Good. Now let's get away from here before Rosalind gets mad."

Chizuru's eyes widened and she nodded at that. "Aunty Rosalind has a terrible temper, I'm afraid she may send the servants after us."

Ayaka, walking in the lead, glanced back over her shoulder. "So? What's so special about them? They didn't look very capable to me…"

Chizuru shook her head. "You don't understand; they're all golems, and strong enough to rip a person apart. We need to find Natsumi right away…"

----

Sir Alexander loomed over Natsumi. "It's time, my sweet Natsumi," he said, shaking her awake.

Natsumi drifted up out of a deep sleep filled with bizarre and nightmarish dreams, and found herself lying on her back and feeling decidedly cold. She blinked away the blurriness in her eyes and tried to raise a hand to wipe her face, but her limbs felt weak and numb, and she barely had the strength to move her head. "Wha…" She couldn't even speak!

"What happened to you? Why, one would assume you were drugged during your meal earlier," Sir Alexander said, grinning toothily to better show his vampire fangs as his eyes ran up and down her body.

"Sssstop…"

"You are cold, aren't you?" he asked again. "Well no wonder, wearing _that_, he said, gesturing down at her. "And sleeping in my bed, too…one might get the wrong idea, the way you do such things," he said, shaking his head in mock sadness. His grin returned as he saw the panicked look in her eyes. "Oh don't worry, nothing happened. Or, at least I don't _think_ anything happened; you tell me. Oh wait, you can't; you're probably so numb you wouldn't even realize it if something _did _happen, much less scream for help."

Natsumi tried to move away when he leaned over her, but the best she could manage was a minor twitch away from him. He grinned down at her as he picked her up bridal style and walked over to a large mirror mounted on the wall. He turned her head so she could see her reflection, and her face turned bright crimson.

She was wearing a sheer robe she could just barely see through, and some rather…skimpy black lingerie under that. It only took her a moment to wonder how she had come to be wearing such a thing, and then her eyes shot to Sir Alexander's face and terror filled her when he grinned wickedly.

"How is it? Are you short of breathe? Is your heart pounding? Do you feel as if you could _die?_" he said mockingly.

And it was true. She was having trouble catching her breathe and her heart felt as if it might burst from her chest at any moment, and she was _terrified._

"Well, no matter, we have one thing left to do," he said as he carried her out of the room.

----

Ayaka and Chizuru were frantic with worry over Natsumi. The servants had all disappeared and the castle was utterly silent except for the sound of their footsteps as they hurried up the stairs to the fifth floor, where Sir Alexander's room was located. They had almost arrived when they heard the first breathless scream coming from the stairwell.

"Lady Chizuru, Lady Ayaka, I am afraid I must restrain you," someone said blandly from behind.

Ayaka pushed Chizuru away and whirled around, narrowly dodging the golem-servant's attempt at a punch. He turned to follow and Ayaka backed away out of reach. The golem lunged at her again, so she whirled around behind him and kicked him in the back of the head, which promptly popped off and smashed on the floor in a spray of broken pottery. The golem turned toward her, unfazed, and she punched it in the stomach. There was a distinct _crack_ sound, but the golem was unfazed as it snatched her up and began to squeeze.

Chizuru got to her feet and saw what was happening. "Ayaka! You have to destroy the seal holding him together! It's on his lower back!"

Ayaka grunted something unintelligible as the servant picked her up in a bearhug and _squeezed_.

The servant turned around and began carrying her away when Chizuru ran up from behind and smashed a five-foot candle stand into its lower back.

The golem took a few more steps, stumbled, and fell hard to its knees. Ayaka struggled against its grip and managed to get loose; she backed away, watching the golem squirm as its life-giving magic faded away.

She stepped carefully around the still-twitching golem and joined Chizuru on the other side. "Come on, let's go get Natsumi."

Chizuru nodded and led the way to the stairwell where they had heard the screams a moment before.

----

Sir Alexander carefully placed Natsumi on the altar in the center of the roof, and began the process of tying her limbs in place, humming a little tune as he did so.

"Hm hm hm Hm~ This should be interesting, sweet Natsumi. This is the most danger you've ever been in in your whole life, isn't it? It wouldn't surprise me~"

Natsumi squirmed away as he leaned over her, so he placed a hand on her chest and pushed her back down while he checked the bindings on her arms.

"Don't…touch…"

"Hmm? You don't like that? Well, what you like doesn't matter much in this situation, I'm afraid. Some things, however, I am sure you will come to like in the coming months." He resumed humming his song as Natsumi's eyes widened in terror.

"Sir Alexander! What are you doing?!" Lady Rosalind wailed, somewhat breathlessly as she lurched out onto the roof.

"Ah, Lady Rosalind, excellent. Now you will see the fruits of our labor. Now, I will be using sweet Natsumi here—"

"Sweet Natsumi?! _SWEET NATSUMI?!"_

"Yes," he said dangerously. "Sweet Natsumi. You see, Rosalind, I am tired of your idiocy and ignorance. Sweet Natsumi, however," he said, smiling down at her terrified face as he stroked her head, "Sweet Natsumi is a much better lover than you will ever be," he finished, grinning wickedly at the older woman while Natsumi shuddered violently and tears began to flow. "Besides, I think you should best prepare to deal with the other two, who will be here in, oh, perhaps twenty seconds. Shouldn't you call your servants?" he asked, looking at her as if she were an idiot.

Rosalind was flabbergasted, to say the least. But the pain still present in her stomach brought rage at the thought of Chizuru and the other half breed, and she used the magic ring on her finger to call the golems, _all_ the golems, to her position.

----

Ayaka burst through the doorway and out onto the roof, quickly followed by Chizuru.

"You…! I'll kill you!" Ayaka screeched when she saw Natsumi's condition and Sir Alexander's hand on the poor girl's stomach.

"No, I think not," Sir Alexander said as he raised a hand a translucent wall of power sprang up between them. He watched as Ayaka ran into it and was blown back by force equivalent to a strong magic arrow. And then the golems began boiling out through the door. He turned back to Natsumi, smiled at her, and activated the enormous spell circle.

----

"Ayaka-san!" Chizuru shouted as she ran over to the still-smoking Ayaka and helped her up.

"I'm all right," Ayaka growled. That had really hurt…she felt as though she had been on the losing end of a serious fight, and—her thoughts dropped off and her eyes widened as servants began coming out onto the roof through the same door they had just used. Five, eight, a dozen, sixteen, two dozen, three dozen, forty five…forty five servants. And a giant stuffed grizzly bear. That moved. She realized belatedly that she had seen it earlier in a smoking room, and that this must have been what Natsumi had heard outside her door that first night.

"Servants! Get them!" Lady Rosalind bellowed from the other side of the magic wall.

The servants and the bear all locked eyes with Ayaka and Chizuru.

"Oh dear," Chizuru said.

They charged.

----

Natsumi's back arched in agony and she screamed as the enormous magic circle activated and began drawing the power it required to reveal the Seeker's Rod. The air hummed with power and the building underneath them started to shake. The Lady Rosalind was laughing wildly now, insanely. "You! You horrible gutterdog! _You_ had the power for this…!"

Sir Alexander ignored the woman; she was obviously breaking down, and, like the burned out mage she was, she had no way to stop him from his mission. And then, suddenly, a burst of power shot out from Natsumi as she screamed, knocking the breath from Sir Alexander's lungs. He heard a brief scream from Lady Rosalind and looked back at her. She had been knocked into the magic wall and struck by the power of it, the same way Ayaka had been; only Rosalind now lay in a smoking heap below it. She hadn't been particularly healthy or anywhere near as vibrant as Ayaka was; Rosalind was most likely dead. A shame, she had once been a brilliant mage, but now— "Oof," he said as he was struck by another wave of power. Natsumi screamed and he was struck again, so hard he was stumbled back, then another and another and still another, each stronger than the last.

He lost his balance and fell hard to the ground as the next pulse hit him, and looked up at Natsumi. She was…glowing. It was beautiful, hypnotically so. He felt almost like a moth drawn to a flame as he crawled toward her. He felt the exposed skin on his wrists and his face begin to heat uncomfortably, a sensation he vaguely recalled from his first few years as a vampire, back when he wasn't powerful enough to go out into the sunlight without being burned.

She was glowing like the sun, and he had been right. _He had been right!_

"My…my lady," he muttered in spite of himself as another pulse knocked him down again.

----

Ayaka waded in, smashing golem faces and shattering golem limbs as she went, using the training she had undergone with Ku Fei and Kotarou and Negi, Mana and Kaede and Asuna, and she was winning, _she was winning_…! And then she found herself face to face with the giant bear. She heard Chizuru screaming something somewhere off to her right, but there was so much smoke and debris that she found herself alone here with the bear, apart from the still twitching remains of several golems. Ayaka tried to circle away, but the bear growled and she stopped. It was huge, standing almost as tall on all fours as she did herself standing normally. The bear crouched in preparation for a lunge and Ayaka gathered ki in preparation for a flash step.

Both moved at the same time.

The bear snapped at the place Ayaka had been an instant before, narrowly missing the girl as she darted off to the side. The bear wasted no time and went after her immediately, and Ayaka did the only thing she could think of. It was stupid, it was suicidal, it was like something Asuna would have done, but she did it anyway. Ayaka stood in front of the charging bear and, when it was close enough, put both hands on its snout and flipped over its head, landing seated on its back. The bear went wild, growling and snapping at her legs as it whirled around trying to shake her off, but she was too far back for its teeth to reach.

"The seal, where is the seal?!" she said aloud as she tried to hang on for dear life. She tore at the fur, which came out in patches, but the skin underneath was free of magic symbols. Well, there was more than one way to kill a golem, so she charged her fist with ki and smashed it into the bear's spine.

Then the bear became angry.

----

"Let the one hundred ninety nine gathering spirits of shadow destroy the enemy! Magic arrow, shadow series!"

Chizuru watched cautiously as the arrows devastated a group of twenty or so golems. 'There can't be many more,' she thought. It was only then that she realized the roaring she had been hearing for some time now wasn't the sound of the giant magic circle at work. She gave one last look at the broken golems, then turned to go through the smoke and debris to find Ayaka when Smokey-kun blasted through the smoke, the very vision of a blonde-haired avenging angel riding on his back, arms outstretched and crackling with power.

----

"Magic in the left hand, ki in the right," Ayaka said, separating the two and putting them in their proper places the way Asuna had taught her. It wasn't perfect and the power crackled wildly; in fact, it was all she could do to keep it from exploding in her face, but this was her only chance, so…

She directed the blast downward into the berserking bear's back, and everything disappeared in a massive explosion of light.

----

Chizuru stood up slowly, brushing off the dust and crumbled debris that covered her. "Ayaka? Ayaka! Where are you?" She could barely hear herself think over the deafening hum of Sir Alexander's magic circle, but somehow she heard Ayaka's answering shout and hastened to the fallen girl's side.

"Did it work?" Ayaka asked, exhausted. Chizuru knelt down beside her and began doing what she could for the injuries Ayaka was covered in. "Chizuru, did it work?" Ayaka demanded.

"I don't know…can you feel your fingers? Can you move?"

"…I think so," Ayaka replied as Chizuru helped her sit up. She raised a hand to her head. "My head feels like a bell clapper."

Chizuru couldn't help but giggle at that as she helped Ayaka to her feet. "I'm sorry I don't know any healing magic Ayaka, or I would help you with that."

Ayaka shook her head and immediately regretted it. "Don't worry about it. Where is the be—kanka did _that?!_"

Chizuru nodded solemnly as Ayaka inspected the massive hole in the roof. Easily fifteen feet across, it went down probably seven or eight stories, and without a doubt endangered the structural integrity of the castle. Even now, they could feel the castle itself shaking. "Poor Smokey-kun…"

"Smokey-kun?"

Chizuru nodded. "The bear's name. He was the first golem I made; I was only seven years old at the time, and Aunty Rosalind was so angry…she yelled at me for a long time, but I could tell she was secretly impressed." Chizuru sighed. "He was always my favorite."

Ayaka looked away awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Chizuru. If I had known…"

"Don't worry, you did the right thing. He would have killed you if you hadn't." The two of them sat in a thoughtful silence for a moment as they tried to catch their breath after the insanity of the past sixty seconds.

"The wall's gone," Ayaka said after a moment. Chizuru nodded; Sir Alexander's magic wall had disappeared. She didn't know what had happened, but this was their chance.

Ayaka ran off through the smoke toward the altar where Natsumi was tied up, leaving Chizuru alone. Chizuru brushed the dust from her clothing and took one last look around. She was about to go when a brown tuft of fur poking out from under some debris caught her eye. "Smokey-kun?" she asked, feeling foolish even as she spoke. To her surprise, she was answered by a whine. "Smokey-kun!" She scrambled over and began rolling the chunks of debris from the bear, but stopped sadly when she saw the damage that had been done. "Oh, poor Smokey-kun…" she said as she hugged the bear's head. He was lying on his right side; the entire back half and front left leg were gone. He whined again and tried to lick her face, and she blinked back tears and smiled for him. He was her childhood pet, after all. She said her goodbyes, and prepared to do what she had to do.

----

Ayaka burst through the smoke ready to kick some ass, but instead slowed to a stop, shocked to inaction by what she saw.

Sir Alexander, smoking as if he had just been pulled from a fire, lay hiding behind a bit of statuary off to the right. Lady Rosalind, standing and staring wide-eyed, stood beside the altar in the center of the roof, and Natsumi, shy, innocent Natsumi, was glowing like the sun and floating upright a few inches above the altar, with a knife in her stomach and two enormous streams of bluish white energy flowing from her back like fifty foot wings.

She felt Chizuru bump into her a moment later and looked back at her with wide eyes, only to see Chizuru gaping like a fish at the scene before them.

----

The Natsumi-like being plucked the dagger from its stomach and looked at it curiously. It dropped the knife and turned to the woman who had stabbed it. Everything was sort of hazy, and there was a distant roaring as some sort of magic ritual began to take hold of the area. It vaguely remembered the woman's name was Rosalind Strachan, or Lady Rosalind.

----

Rosalind broke from her paralysis when the…the _thing's_ horrible shining blue eyes looked at her, and scrambled back. She made it perhaps ten feet before she stumbled and fell on her butt, but continued backward until she bumped into the parapet wall that ringed the roof.

----

A ball of crackling energy coalesced around the altar where Natsumi had previously been restrained, and the whole island _really_ began to shake. The ancient stone of the castle began to split, and deep underground, hidden rooms began to collapse as the magic that protected the castle from the frequent earthquakes was drained. A deep rumbling sound began to build, and the entire castle lurched several feet to the side as glass shattered and pieces of the castle began to fall apart.

----

"Natsumi!" Ayaka shouted. The Natsumi-like being looked straight at her, and Ayaka saw with a dawning horror those glowing blue circles that were its eyes, and realized that it wasn't that Natsumi's body was shining, but rather that Natsumi's body had become the light itself.

"Natsumi-chan!" Chizuru called out.

At that moment, the growing ball of power shot a beam of light down into the castle, shaking it violently and causing the east wing to collapse in a cloud of dust and debris. The castle lurched with the collapse, and Chizuru screamed as the roof began slanting to the side.

And then, within the beam of light, an object rose slowly up. Roughly fifteen inches long, it was a small metallic rod, covered in elaborate carvings that shone with the power flowing into it. Ayaka recognized the Seeker's Rod from the description given her by Sir Alexander, and scrambled across the roof for it.

Sir Alexander got there first.

----

Rosalind almost cried in relief when that horrible…_thing_ turned its attention away from her, but then she heard the rumbling sound, realized what it was, and her eyes widened. She used the parapet wall to climb to her feet, and looked out over the edge at the cliff's edge below, and watched as a large section of the badly undercut cliff slid off and fell into the sea. She whirled around toward the others and spotted Chizuru, and all thoughts of her anger and frustration at the girl vanished in one terrible instant. The castle would fall into the sea when the cliff collapsed…The castle would fall into the sea, _and Chizuru would die_…!

She ran toward the girl, not even seeing Sir Alexander as he wrestled with the Yukihiro girl for possession of some object, not seeing that commoner, Natsumi, looking at her as she ran by.

"Chizuruuuuu!" she wailed. The castle lurched violently and she fell in an ungraceful heap, but scrambled on toward the girl on all fours anyway, cursing her dress for the way it restricted her movements all the while. "Chizuru! It will fall into the sea, _RUN!_"

There was a deafening crack and she saw Chizuru's shocked expression, saw the girl's hand reaching out for her and then there was a widening gulf between them as the castle itself split in half.

Rosalind locked eyes with Chizuru as the north end of the castle fell back and away, and she was falling, falling, falling, and couldn't see Chizuru anymore, couldn't see anything but the stars in the night sky and falling pieces of her home above. She hit the water from three hundred feet up hard enough to shatter every bone in her body, and the weight of the castle above bore her down into the sea, down into the cold, crushing depths, and her poor shattered body went numb from the pain and the cold. 'I'm sorry Chizuru…I…never…'

----

Sir Alexander smacked Ayaka hard across the face as Rosalind ran past and grabbed the rod. He stuffed it into his shirt, grabbed the stunned Ayaka around the waist, and ran past Natsumi toward Chizuru and the front of the castle. He almost lost his footing when the castle lurched, but managed to make it to a stable spot in time to see the northern end collapse into the sea hundreds of feet below. He ignored Ayaka's startled struggling and grabbed Chizuru's hand before she could follow her aunt into the sea. The whole island was shaking violently now, and the remains of the castle wouldn't last much longer, so he pulled her hard toward him and slung her under his other arm, the same way he held Ayaka.

"Aunty Rosalind! Sir Alexander, we have to go back!" Chizuru screamed.

"It's too late, you two can't die yet, not here, not now!" Alexander shouted back as he darted toward the front end of the castle. He stopped just short of the parapet wall and looked back. Sure enough, 'Natsumi' was floating above the castle, perfectly safe. "There's no way down, I'll have to jump," he said. Ayaka barely had time for a startled yelp before Sir Alexander took a running start and leapt over the crumbling edge and out into space.

----

There was a brief sensation of weightlessness before gravity took over, and then Ayaka heard herself screaming as the ground a hundred feet below rushed up to meet them; heard Sir Alexander's curses and Chizuru's frantic calls for her aunt. She knew there was no way they could survive that landing, even _with_ Sir Alexander's abilities. So…she did the only thing she could do. She called up every ounce of ki energy she could muster, strengthened her legs, and wriggled around until she was face to face with Sir Alexander as they fell and could see the consternation in his face. She glanced upward one final time at Natsumi, who floated so far above, a beautiful beacon in the sky, and then they hit the ground.

----

"Um…who are you?" Natsumi asked. "And where is this?"

The last thing she remembered, Sir Alexander had tied her to the altar and activated the massive spell circle that included the castle itself. Lady Rosalind had come toward her with a knife, and…what?

The place she was in now…it was beautiful in a wild, heart pounding sort of way. It was a vast, boulder-strewn plain with lush green grass up to her shoulder along with the occasional clump of bushes or lone tree. It seemed the plain itself was surrounded on three sides by a distant forest of dark green trees a thousand feet high, and dropped off to the sea far below on the other side. Natsumi was currently seated on one of the larger boulders, facing a pretty woman in unusual clothing. She wasn't beautiful, or even really very pretty, but she gave off an aura of life and love that drew Natsumi's attention.

"I'm nod dead, am I? Is this heaven? Oh crap I'm dead aren't I?!" Natsumi babbled.

"No, I can assure you, you are not dead," the woman said. She smiled at Natsumi and continued. Who I am is not important right now. But this place…it really is quite beautiful."

Natsumi nodded in agreement. No use denying an obvious truth, after all.

"Are you happy, Natsumi?"

"Yes…"

"You're lonely, aren't you? Is it Chizuru? Or is it Ayaka?"

Natsumi looked down at the deep green of the tall grass and sighed. "I…I guess I feel left out. Ayaka is beautiful and rich, and so is Chizu-nee. Everyone always talks about beautiful and kind they both are. Even Kotarou-kun likes—" Natsumi cut herself off when she realized what she had just said.

"Kotarou-kun? Tell me about him," the woman urged.

Natsumi took a deep breath; this was going to take a while. "He's a stupid kid. He's some kind of wolf boy or something that fights too much. He used to hang out with Negi-sensei all the time and they would train together, but he would always claim the two of them were enemies. He's an idiot! And childish too!" Natsumi said vehemently. She pouted for a moment. "He even watches that Rider show on TV every week! And…" Natsumi trailed off.

"And…?" the woman urged.

"And…he ran off after we graduated. He didn't even hang around to tell me congratulations or anything! He's an idiot, and I hate him!"

The woman smiled as if she had heard such things many times before, and moved to sit beside Natsumi. She put an arm around her and ruffled her hair while Natsumi simply sat there.

"Don't worry Natsumi, you have some very good friends. I don't think you have anything to worry about," she said reassuringly.

Natsumi pouted, but looked away.

The woman cocked her head to the side and looked at something off in the distance that Natsumi couldn't see. She winced and frowned. "That…had to hurt. But remember, Natsumi," she said, turning back to her. "You are never alone. As long as you have your friends, and Kotarou-kun," she added mischievously as her eyes twinkled. Natsumi turned red and turned to yell at the woman when she suddenly found herself back above the castle, high in the air. Or…what remained of the castle.

She heard painful, panicked screams and looked down at the ground a hundred feet below, where three figures writhed in apparent agony. She panicked for a moment when she realized just how high up she was, but a warm feeling, like a mother's hug, surrounded her and she calmed down. She willed herself to go closer to the ground and soon found herself hovering a few inches above her Ayaka, Chizuru, and Sir Alexander, who was by far the worst off. Natsumi looked at her hands and marveled at how her whole body was glowing. She realized Ayaka was looking at her as if terrified, and smiled a little at how ridiculous that was. She reached down and laid a hand on the poor girl's shattered legs and concentrated, following the advice being offered by the voice of the friendly woman. Ayaka gasped as the power took hold, but didn't struggle or attempt to stop her. When she was done, she moved on to the unconscious Chizuru and did the same for the dark haired girl's injuries before finally moving to stand over Sir Alexander.

"You jerk," she said, startled at how her own voice boomed and echoed. She gave him a hard kick in the side and he writhed in pain. "Serves you right," she muttered.

"I'm sorry," he muttered painfully. Natsumi raised her foot up to kick him again.

"Natsumi, don't! He saved us! If he hadn't gotten us, we'd be buried under _that_," Ayaka said, pointing to the remains of the castle.

Natsumi looked at the ruins and sighed. "Is that true?"

Sir Alexander nodded and Natsumi frowned. "Fine. Here, let me—"

"No!" the man barked out in a voice hoarse with pain. "I'm a vampire, you can't use that sort of magic on me," he said. "Just…just give me a little time and I'll be…urgh…I'll be fine," he finished weakly.

"Huh…wait! I'm not done yet, I want to ask abou—" Natsumi said before freezing in place.

"Natsumi?!" Ayaka asked.

When Natsumi spoke again, it was with a different voice, and she carried herself as if she were a different person. "Do not worry, Natsumi is fine." She turned to the vampire and helped him sit up.

"I'm sorry, my queen. I would kneel for you, but…"

She grinned at him. "I understand. So, you are of the Society of Light? That is a dangerous choice for a vampire."

He grinned weakly. "So I have been told."

"Why did you do such vile things to the girl? You have done her a great disservice, and I am afraid she will not forgive you after this."

Sir Alexander withered under her glare, and the skin on his face began so steam from the intensity of the light. "I-it was the only way I knew to draw out her power. I had to make her more afraid than she had ever been before, and, well…"

The sound of Ayaka slapping him echoed loudly in the still night air. "How _dare_ you…!"

The woman in Natsumi's body gave her a stern look, and Ayaka backed down. She turned back to the vampire curiously. "Why did you take such a risk? Had I not been ready, she would have killed you easily."

"I have never wanted to live forever," he said. "Just to the end."

She turned to look up at the sky. "Then it is time? The Growing Dark?"

Sir Alexander bowed his head. "Near enough as makes little difference. If the legends and prophecies are true, the signs are all appearing, one by one. The unrest in the magic world, undercurrents in this one, ancient heroes reborn…"

She nodded. "I see." She cocked her head to the side, as if listening to some far away voice. "You want to come back? Are you sure?" She waited a moment, apparently listening to a reply. Her massive energy wings flapped once, twice, then stilled. "Very well." She turned to Ayaka and Chizuru, who was only now stirring. "You two are her only hope. If she does not survive…there is no time to raise another to replace her."

Ayaka found herself nodding dumbly, and Chizuru did the same.

She closed her eyes and began to speak. "Very well. Murakami Natsumi, I hereby pass my power and title on to you, may I be forgiven. Awaken anew Murakami Natsumi, Queen of Light."

Natsumi collapsed to the ground, naked and no longer glowing, and passed out.

----

"Natsumi-san? Are you awake?" someone asked nearby; she thought it was probably Chizuru.

"Yeah, I think," Natsumi muttered as she opened her eyes. She seemed to be in a small, dark room that was tilting back and forth. "I'm on a boat?" she asked sleepily.

"Yes, Captain Kelly found us on the island. He was on his way with a delivery when the earthquakes hit, so he rushed over as fast as the boat could go. I'm afraid the three of us are the only survivors," Chizuru said.

"The three of us?" Natsumi asked as she moved to sit up. It was a struggle, and when she finally managed it she swayed precariously.

"You, me, and Ayaka-san," Chizuru said.

"What about Sir Alexander?"

"He disappeared at some point while we were asleep on the island," Chizuru replied, and Natsumi nodded. That irritating vampire…she wanted to wring his neck. How dare he mentally torture her like that!?

At that moment, Ayaka walked into the small cabin. "Oh, welcome back to the world of the living, Natsumi-san."

Natsumi grinned weakly at that. A quick glance at a pocket mirror showed her she did indeed look like death warmed over.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you; remember how I fired you from Kikuchi's Diner?"

Natsumi's eyes widened as she realized just what that would mean. "My job! Oh no, what am I gonna do when I get back?!"

"I wouldn't worry about if I were you, manager-san," Ayaka said, grinning wide.

Natsumi blinked once, twice, then… "Manager-san?!"

"Yes. Congratulations on your promotion, Natsumi-san, and good luck. Make me proud!" Ayaka said as she turned around and left the cabin.

Natsumi was just left gaping. "Me? A manager? Wow…Wait! I don't know anything about being a manager! What do I do?! Why are you doing this to me, Ayaka-saaaan?!"

----

----

----

----

Author's Notes: Wall Of Text crits you for 120,675 hp. You are dead. Holy…I think that's the longest thing I've ever written in one file before. Twice as long as the previous chapter, thirty one pages, fourteen thousand words plus or minus five hundred…that's a lot. Sorry about that, it just sort of ballooned out as I wrote it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Still Waters 3 is approaching fast, but there are a couple more short stories to go before it starts. Keep reading!


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